So I stand Alone
by dgj212
Summary: "I'm always standing. And every time I have I've stood alone. I can get a lot of people close to me, but at the end of the day no one will stand up for me, hell they probably wouldn't even say any thing. Even if I'm on my own, no, especially because I'm alone I stand. I stand alone..." "Who I am and who I want to be are different. I'm different, I...I won't fight it anymore..."
1. Paper moon

Hey guys i had these two chaps done for a while almost have the third done, i figured i'd release these two first. I almost have another chap for a different fic done and almost got the first part of one shot done. Quick question, who likes the chunin exams? I do, it's one of my favourite parts of Naruto, but after the world expanded feel that more could have been done. So this is what I feel should have happened. If you guys want you can use this fic, adopt it, or borrow ideas from here, just send me a link when your done. This is will have a lot of my shadow clone challenges here.

I DONT OWN NARUTO!

* * *

"Huh?" Naruto let out as he opened his eyes. It was a dark hallway that was slightly flooded and filled with pipes. It was lit by round light bulbs that let out a yellow glow that gave the hallway a very depressing look. He quickly got up and tried to dry himself off as best he could, but found that he wasn't wet at all. He looked at the palm of his hands and then to his feet. He felt like he was in water. He bent over and poked the water with his right index finger. It felt wet and cool to the touch. He pulled it out and found that it was dry and he didn't feel cool or warm. "What is this place?" He asked out loud while scratching his blond scalp.

He quickly gave himself a quick check. So far he was wearing his regular orange jumpsuit. No cuts, no bruises, he was fine. Then a brief flash of a weird woman came to his mind, specifically the pail woman who forced her hand into Naruto's stomach. He quickly lifted his jacket and black shirt to see that he was fine. He let the shirt and jacket fall then as he tried to figure out what was happening. Last he checked he passed out on a three branch, way up high in a tree. So why, why on earth was he in a hallway that was flooded up to his ankle but isn't wet? It made no sense!

Naruto scowled as he looked behind him, it was a hallway that seemed very long and full of doors, but near the end it got pitch black. Who knew if it even ended? He looked back in front of him. It was a very short segment of the hallway. There was one closed door at the end of the hallway and an open door on his left, leading to a room that a lot of pipes seem to be to going into. Seeing no other choice he simply followed the pipes into the dark room. No, rather, it was more like he was drawn to it.

The room was dark, but it did have a light source. A small light bulb that was pretty much close to dying and flickered every ten seconds or so. His steps splashed every time, echoing throughout the dark room. From the echo you could tell how big the room was. It was making him nervous. As he moved forward he quickly came upon a large set of columns that acted as bars; at what seemed to be the door of the bars, there was single sheet of paper with a bunch of scribbles on it. "What's this doing here? Hmmp, what am I doing here?"

"Tch."Naruto was caught off guard. He quickly pulled out a Kunai and braced himself for an attack. When nothing happened he relaxed a bit.

"HEY! WHO'S THERE?" He yelled.

"OI!" A loud angry voice from behind the bar began. Then suddenly a big eye with a bunch of red veins as well as a red slit appeared from the darkness. Suddenly a whole face appeared. It was a very furry face of blood red fur and bat like ears as well as a fiendish pair of whites. "I'm trying to sleep here you gnat, leave."

"Gnat? No wait…WHO THE HELL ARE YOU! Actually-WHERE THE HELL AM I, DATTEBAYO?"

"Hmph, so the jailer doesn't even know the cell he's policing," the giant furry creature said, "well that is surprising, I suppose."

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean," Naruto asked with a confused look.

"Take a guess, in fact, have nine," it said as nine red tails came to view.

"AH! YOU," Naruto yelled as realized what the furry monster was. "YOU'RE THE KYUUBI!"

"Congratulations…you're smarter than feces."

"HEY! What's that supposed to mean," he yelled.

"Figure it out on your own," the giant fox said yawning as it rested its head and tried to go back to sleep.

"Look if that's an insult-Hey! Don't ignore me! TELL ME WHAT THIS PLACE IS! GOD DAMN IT, WHERE THE HELL AM I?" Naruto yelled when he realized that the fox was beginning to snore.

"Where do you think? Either we're in the seal that binds us together or we're in whatever your mind represents the seal to be; any rational being with a shred of logic would conclude that." It replied, then it followed up with, "As to ignoring you…Well there's no point to talking, so why bother. It's not like you have anything to offer me, and likewise, I have nothing to give. So a discussion would be pointless." It sounded like a solid argument so Naruto didn't really have anything to counter with. Then Naruto remembered that his teammates were still fighting the woman. And how bad of a shape they were all in and Sasuke for the first time, that Naruto had ever noticed, was scared.

"Hey!" Naruto said loudly as he put his kunai away. "Look this is inside me basically, right? So what's happening outside is still happening right?"

"Who knows," Kyuubi said, "For all we know, time is either progressing at a very slow rate or at a very fast rate. I have no way of knowing what is happening outside. Only what happens to your body directly. Well that and the emotions."

"But still happening, right? Look my friends are in trouble and you do have something to give!"

"Ooh?" Kyuubi let out in amusement, "What might that be?"

"Your chakra," Naruto said firmly. "I remember…back at the bridge...I was…I was powerful...I…I wanted to tear Haku apart, I wanted to tear everything apart because I could….That was your chakra wasn't it? You gave me your charka back then. Well now I need it again, so fork it over!"

"…No," It responded calmly.

"Huh…" Naruto let out by such a calm answer, "why not!"

"Because it wouldn't do you any good, it's pointless on you. I've seen many warriors, many _Shinobi_ ," he spat out, "That is what you call your selves, right? I've seen many great shinobi fight. From one glance I can tell that you are weak. Therefore, my power would not do you any good," it stated, looking at Naruto as if he were a muse.

"THE HELL! Back at the bridge-that thing, that chakra! It made me strong-Strong enough to do anything!" Naruto exclaimed, "You-you've been living inside me the entire time…WELL NOW IT'S TIME TO PAY RENT!"

"…Is that right?" The fox asked in an amused tone, he rested his head down on his paws and closed his eyes. "Well then my self-appointed landlord, I'm afraid I'm unable to reimburse you at this time."

"WHAT!"

"Yes, it is quite troublesome," the fox continued with a smirk, "and the only way to deal with a troublesome tenant is to remove said tenant from the premises, isn't that right? _Mr. landlord_ ," the fox taunted.

"Arrrrrrg," Naruto began growling, causing the fox's lip to rise even further.

"Oh my, I can stay? What a saint of a landlord I have! While you are still in the mood, _Mr. Landlord_ , can you do something about all this water? It's bad for my fur and it is very vexing."

"BE SERIOUS!"

"Tch, I am. I don't know anything about a bridge but I do remember your hatred. Such intense hatred that drew my power against my will…that is all I remember. Even the most recent rage was nothing compared to before. To the matter of giving you chakra…even if I did want to give you my chakra, I am currently unable to. Whatever was happening out there, it seems that it resulted in an extra seal being placed on the preexisting seal that binds me here."

"Huh? …So does that mean I can't get your power?"

"It means that as long as that extra seal is in place, I can't willingly give you chakra and you can't forcibly take it from me."

"Wait you mean there's no way for me to use it!"

"Besides the usual amount that already runs through your blood, no. You have to remove the seal."

"Okay, so then how do I remove it?"

The fox cracked an eye open and stared at him, it then closed its eyes before it did a motioned that appeared like shrug, "The seal was placed incorrectly; it probably wouldn't take much to break it. Hatred, an overwhelming amount of hatred should do it. Had it been placed correctly, you would have to either carve it off your flesh through special means or with a fuinjutsu of equal or greater caliber. That much should be obvious."

"Wait, how? How? HOW ON EARTH WOULD THIS BE OBVIOUS TO ME, DATTEBAYO?"

"TCH, you really are a loud one."

"OI! Answer me!"

The fox seemed to sigh while it rolled its eyes, "You honestly expect me to believe that the young Uzumaki doesn't understand how seals work," the beast asked.

"Well sorry, seals are way too complicated for me, plus it takes a hellava long time to make one." The fox looked at Naruto with one eye open again, then it opened the other and looked at him. The fox realized that the boy was serious, it grinned. Then it started gekkering loudly. The sound it made was pretty much like a hyena laughing. Its massive body trembled as it laughed.

"OH THAT'S RICH! GEKGEK-GEK-GEKGEK-," the entire room vibrated a bit because of the loud laugh.

"HEY! What so funny!" While the sound creeped Naruto out a bit, he could tell it was laughter; he didn't like being laughed at.

"YOU! Gekgekgekgekgeke. An Uzumaki being bad with seals! GEKEGEKGEKEGEKEGEKE!"

"HEY QUIT IT! WHAT'S SO FUNNY ABOUT IT?"

"An old vixen kept boasting of her clan's inherit ability to master Fuinjutsu, but before me lies a dotty kit from the same lineage who is inept in the art. Truly the highest form of amusement."

"What the heck are you talking about? For your information, I'm an orphan; I have no family thanks to you!"

"Hmm…Actually…now that I recall that day…you right it is my fault. It appears that you do have a brain, Naruto."

"How the hell do you even know my name, anyway," Naruto asked, completely irritated at the biju's quips against him, "you said you have no idea what happens outside."

"And the small spark in your head vanished…gekgek, I did not expect such an idiotic kit to be my vessel," the biju said while waving is…paw.

"The hell is so funny, dattebayo!"

"You are! You haven't put it together yet!"

"QUIT BEATING AROUND THE BUSH AND TELL, YOU DAMN MONSTER!"

"Gekgek, fine, I heard your name before I was sealed inside you. I swear, I kept hearing that annoying name over and over. Oh Naruto; my baby Naruto, he'll be just like the gutsy shinobi from the book, dattebane. Blarg," the beast let its tongue stick out for a bit, "that left a bad taste in my mouth."

"You-you hea-…but then…do you…know m-my parents," Naruto hoped to god the monster didn't.

"One at least, and by the look in your eyes, it seems you have a faint idea how," the biju let out a white grin, and lifted one of its furry fingers-er-claws in this case, it was the middle one, "It was this one." It stated, "I ran this right through them." Naruto just stood as if he was frozen, face drained of blood. "Unlike all the other lives I took, your parents were the only ones I could recall. I remember it so vividly, to be honest. But…I am not the only one to blame…"

"Who…" Naruto began as he trembled; "who else…" he struggled to get out through his clenched teeth.

"Your catching on…that's right; I alone am not responsible for village's destruction or the death of your parents. One individual instigated my release, the destruction, your parent's deaths, all the killing."

" **WHO GODDAMN IT? WHO THE FUCK DID ALL THIS! WHO FUCK DID THIS TO THE VILLAGE! WHO THE FUCK DID THIS TO ME!** " Naruto shouted from the top of his lungs in pure rage.

"Tch, who do you think, it was you!" The giant fox roared. Naruto was stunned.

"M-meh, me?"

"It was your birth that allowed for a narrow window to be. It was your birth that allowed me to be free. It was because of you, that she jumped right to her death protecting you. You see, the minute I saw you I knew who my future jailer was. So I tried to kill you, but you mother traded what little life she had left to save you. As for your father…well I can only assume he was your father but I have no idea who he is. Either way, the fool just jumped just like your foolish mother. Gekgek, a family marred with tragedy."

"…ut…ust…." Naruto began, his eyes we're watering, he kept recalling all the time he saw kids, kids like him, being happy with their mom and dads. "Just shut up…."

"What this? Don't like taking responsibility?"

"…How…how is any of that my fault! I DIDN'T CHOOSE TO BE BORN! I DIDN'T CHOOSE FOR THE VILLAGE TO BE DESTROYED! I DIDN'T CHOOSE THIS LIFE! I DIDN'T CHOOSE ANY OF IT," he yelled as he stared at the beast in the eyes.

"True, I guess if you really want to blame someone, then blame your mother's greed."

"THAT'S EVEN MORE STUPIDER!"

"Tch, it's your tongue, at least learn to have proper control of it," it said with a roll of it's eyes.

"Don't change the subject!"

"Honestly, I don't know whether to find it amusing or tragic that you haven't realized it yet."

Naruto's teeth began to grind his teeth in hatred, "I SAID-"

"FIRST-" the fox interrupted loudly, "why you? Why was I sealed inside of you, surely you have thought about it before? Why you above all other children? Your parents were around, if only briefly, yet they freely allowed their child the fate of bearing me? What for?"

"Why me? All the time…I've asked it even before I knew about you," the past flashed into Naruto's mind, all the time he was alone, why everyone kept their distance, why he was singled out; why out of all the kids, it had to be him?

"Did you ever get an answer?"

"The-FUCK DO YOU THINK, 'TTEBAYO!"

"Hmph," the fox let out with a smile, "from this village…yes, you're my third vessel."

"Third…third vessel?"

"I believe the term is jinchuriki, my third jinchuriki," the fox corrected itself.

"If I'm third then…"Naruto's eyes slowly widened. "You-you're lying! It-it can't be! You wouldn't have attacked Konoha!"

"Geh, no your realization is true but your conclusion isn't. You're mother was my previous host and because you are her son, you were the perfect candidate to be my vessel."

"LIAR!"

"Spare your breath. Lying is a tool for you frail humans. Such a thing is beneath me! Your mother was the second vessel, the second person to house me! Before her, was another Uzumaki, an old vixen of the Uzumaki clan! Do you get it now! Your mother could have prevented all of it, but instead she had you. And look what happened, look how many people died because she wanted a child of her own!"

"I said quit it you liar!" Naruto shouted angrily with his teeth grinding together. "Your just a liar!"

"Tsk." The fox clicked as it closed its eyes as it thought. Then it smiled. "Don't be picky, eat lots and grow strong," the fox suddenly said.

"Huh?" Naruto said completely dumbfounded.

"Make sure you bathe everyday and stay warm."

"H-hey what are you-"

"Also don't stay up late. You need lots of sleep. And make friends. You don't need a lot. Just a few… Ones you can really trust."

"Wha-what're you…"

"I wasn't very good at it, but keep up with your studies and practice your ninjutsu hard. Remember that every one has strength and weaknesses. So don't get too depressed if you can't do something well. Respect your teachers and upperclassmen at the academy. Oh and this is important. It's about the three prohibitions for shinobi. Be extra careful about lending or barrowing money. Put your wages into you savings account. No alcohol until your twenty. Too much can ruin your health so drink moderately. Another prohibition is women. I'm a woman so I don't know too much about this but; all you need to remember is that this world is made up of both men and women. So it's only natural that you would take an interest in girls. But just don't get hooked on to bad women. Find someone like me. Speaking of the three prohibition be wary of Jiraiya sensei, dattebane. Naruto, from now on you are going to face lots of pain and hardship. Be true to yourself. Have a dream and have the confidence to make the dream come true. There's more. So much more. So much, much, oh so much more I want to pass on to you. I wish I could stay with you longer…. I love you."

"That…That…" Naruto began, his eyes already watering.

"Mmm," the fox said in an affirmative tone, "Your mother's last words to you." That's when the tears finally came. Naruto cried. For the first time…for the first time in his life he finally has something from his parents to hold on to, even if it was words from a monster, it was something. "I wonder, how closely did you adhere to your mother's words?" After hearing that Naruto cried a bit more, he tried to wipe away the tears with his sleeve. But there were too many tears. He was picky, all he ate was ramen, and it was all he spent his money on too, so he barely saved. He took a lot of showers, but after he started going on missions outside the village he had to hold off a bit, but he always stayed warm. Alcohol, he snuck a cup from Tazuna when he passed out. He stayed up late at nights, he'd think all night how his life would be having a mom or dad, but he made up for it at the academy. Well, he practically destroyed that part of his mother's final wishes. He disrespected everyone. He barely studied and he slept in most classes, but at least he tried his hardest at ninjutsu, but that's all right, his mother wasn't good at it either. As for finding a woman like her…he had no chance in hell.

"Heh, even now. Those words, each and every single letter, all meant out of love, yet in the end they give you grief."

"You…"

"It's true. Your mother meant everything out of love, but the life you were given, what you were forced to inherited is a curse."

"SO *sniff* what you, you calling yourself a curse *sniff*," Naruto asked angrily as he finished wiping away the tears, but he still had a few sniffles.

"Tsk," the fox tsked as it stood on its fours. "What I'm saying is that your life is meaningless. Your birth was pointless. No matter what you do, no matter what you try, or even how hard you try; your fate is and shall always be misery."

"The hell?" Naruto sniffed out. "The hell do you mean?" Naruto hardened his face, "I…I have friends! I'm I'm strong-I'll become hokage! Just you see! I'll at least get that part of my mother's wishes down!"

"Hokage? The leader of that village eh. And what's this? Your strong, you say? Bah! Don't kid yourself, kit."

"I am strong! I can kick your ass from here into next week, believe it dattebayo!"

"Hmmp! I do not lie. You are weak. The only reason you have any value at all, any strength, any true worth at all is because of me!"

"Like hell, dattebayo! You and your chakra have nothing to do with me! You can stay locked up in my stomach for all I care!"

"Oh? Was it not you who was asking for my chakra just a few minutes ago?" That shut Naruto up, but still the fox continued, "Was it not you who lost and desired my power? If you were strong at all, we would have never met. Do you get it now kit? I HAVE EVERYTHING TO DO WITH YOU! Did you think I am sealed in your stomach? Oh right, you are innate in fuinjutsu, so you don't even know how it works. Well let me tell you, I am in every part of your body! From the cell in the marrow of your toe to the cell in your rotted brain! My very existence runs through every liter of your blood. They only reason I haven't taken over your body is because of the cursed seal! And do you really think your worth is limited to my chakra? That very body you claim ownership over is because of me! You are weak without me!"

"Now I know that is straight up lie, dattebayo!"

"I do not lie! Your mother housed me long before you were even concieved! My influence over you began the moment of conception! Your body, its current form is a byproduct of my chakra! That birth mark on your cheeks, your rapid healing, you aversion to sickness, did you really think that it was all because you were my jinchuriki? Those are benefits that originate from me! Your body merged with MY chakra! Who knows if you were even born human!"

"I am human!" Naruto, "and you-your fullashit, dattebayo!"

"Arrrg," the Fox growled, "Can you really say that? Do your so called friends even know what you are?" Naruto was again stopped in his tracks. "They are not aware of it are they? The minute they know who you are, what you really are, do you think human will be the top of the list of what they call you? It will not, I can guarantee that."

"I-I," Naruto stuttered a bit, before he reaffirmed himself, "I define myself! That's the difference between us, dattebayo! I'm the guy who's going to be hokage and you; you're a monster that kills anything that moves. That's why you're trapped behind bars! Why did I even believe for a second that you even knew my parents? Jiji, the old man, the third hokage didn't even know and yet you did? The old man is the greatest old guy there is, he would tell me who my parents are! You're nothing but a desperate fox locked in a cage!"

The fox was growling showing it whites, clearing showing his anger. Then his lips curled to grin. "That's another quality, one you seem to share with humans, the thing is," he moved his claws to the bar, "they tend to be overconfident and they also tend to be too…assuming." He flicked it and instead of ripping the paper and opening the bars, the entire set of columns fell forward. Naruto let out a scream as fell backwards; he hugged his body and closed his eyes as he felt water covering half of his body. There was a loud splash along with a vibration, but other then his face being sprayed with what he is assuming is water, he was fine. He opened his eyes to see the ceiling with pipes and the yellow flickering light bulb. He was in the space between the columns, he sighed in relief.

Then a paw struck down pinning him where he laid and then he was a few inches away from the fox's face. "You are a dotty kit, do you honestly believe anyone would trust you? The old man, the old hokage you swore your loyalty to would never trust you! Do you think he would trust a living weapon! Of course he'd show you his best image, of course he'd be nice to you, because you house ME! Without me you would be nothing but an orphan, not even worthy of interest! You don't have a thing to claim your name to! You have nothing that gives you worth! Even your mother had chakra that was capable of restraining me, she had those blasted chakra chains! YOU? You have nothing! Your only entitlement is your mother's misfortune, the suffering she passed on to you! Compared to those you see, to those you fight, you are nothing! You have nothing significant to define yourself because you can't even accept what you are!"

"…Your wrong," Naruto began, he was scared, Naruto could tell that the fox knew, but more than anything he was also angry. "YOUR WRONG! He would never do something like that! All on my own, I'm just as good anyone else!"

"Yeah right, in the end, you'll never be able to hold on to anything with those hands of yours. And that old man, well, just asks him your mother's name. Kushina Uzumaki. See how he reacts."

"Ku-Kushina Uzumaki?"

"Yes, when he you ask him if she is your mother. One answer, only one answer will tell you if I am right or not. That answer is, 'yes.' Now I'm tired. Out of my SIGHT!"

"Uwah!" Naruto yelled as he sunk into the water.

"Tch," The fox let out. It backed away as the bars sprang back up. The fox yawned as it rested its head on it's paws, "that brat…. At least now I can go back to themmmm.…" And like that the fox was back to sleep.

"…zzz…."

* * *

Naruto was surprised but he quickly held his breath as he began to sink. _The hell!_ He thought in head. He was on solid ground not an underground ocean! How the hell was any of this possible? He tried to move but he couldn't go anywhere. He couldn't turn his body no matter how much he flailed his limbs. All he could do was hold his breath as he saw the faint light above him disappear into darkness. He was sinking fast and it was dark, he was trained to hold his breath but the best he could do was-

TWAMP!

His back hit something solid, that the rest of his body felt. He felt like letting go of all his breath right then and there. He moved his hands to close his mouth as he shut his eyes tightly. He wriggled on the ground desperately trying to hold his breath, grunting in the process to hold it in. He opened his eyes only to see the darkness that enveloped him…

"Oi," a calm voice caught his attention. He quickly turned his head to the source of the voice. His eyes widened. He was staring at the entrance of park, the park in konoha next to the lake! But what he was really focused on was a swing set with a guy sitting on one of the swings. Naruto couldn't get a good view of him it was dark. He could tell that there was light from the light post and big ball in the dark sky. "You stupid or somethin'? Just breathe already. Open your mouth and suck it in."

Feeling that he was about to let go anyway, Naruto did. And then he inhaled, what entered his mouth wasn't air it was water that went down his throat. He panicked and gurgled a bit before he found himself breathing normally. The entire feeling of being wet vanished in an instant! He moved his hand around then ran it through his hair. It was like he was never wet to begin with! He sat up and looked at the guy at the swings. He had blond hair and wore a suit the looked very similar to Naruto's.

"Well, aren't you going to thank me for teaching you to breathe?"

"…Thanks…who are you?"

"Who do you think, I'm you," the other Naruto said as it continued to face away from Naruto.

"Really, last time I checked there was only one me," Naruto said as he stood up.

"No, your right. There is only one you. I'm just the you inside you. I'm everything you swallow down."

"So…you're my food," Naruto asked as he approached.

"No. I'm just the honest truth. You can call me your shadow if you like, it wouldn't be untrue…. So do you remember?"

When he was getting close he could tell that the shadow in front of him had an odd patch of hair on his right side, "remember what?"

"This place." The Shadow said as he slowly rocked back and forth. "One time I stayed even though the sun was setting. All the grownups telling the kids it was time go back home. I stayed until it got dark, hoping someone would come and yell 'hey it's late, you have to come home already son…' it never happened, right?"

After he finished Naruto grabbed his head in pain. He could remember it vividly. He was five at the time, he had a small gauss Band-Aid on his cheek. He sat on the swings until it got dark. It got cold but still he refused to move. He wanted it to happen. He desperately wanted someone to come and take him home. In the end it got too cold so he gave up and went home, if you could even call it that. "Wha-what was that."  
"Whaduya mean? It was memory wasn't it…I wonder, do you remember," the shadow lifted its right arm, from the hand Naruto could tell it wasn't right, the hand had a few visible veins and the nails were longer and sharper. "That," he pointed at the moon.

"What the hell," Naruto exclaimed. The moon or what looked like it anyway; it just looked like a cutout circle of a crumpled paper. And yet it still unleashed a white glow that lit up the night sky along with a bunch of cut out paper stars and diamonds. All of it from crumbled pieces of paper. "That-that can't be the moon, arg where the hell am I!"

"So you don't remember," Shadow said.

"Damn it! I was just falling after I was talking to big furball! I was drowning! Where the hell am I now!"

"What's it look like," Shadow asked. Then it turned to look at Naruto, showing how half its face, the right side of its face looked like Naruto was feral. A bright red eye, a fang showing, and half his hair had a feral look to it. "It's Konoha."

Naruto quickly jumped back and pulled out a kunai from the holster tied to his right leg with bandages.

"Ah…," the shadow let out as it touched it's face. "I guess it would scare you," it said as it covered it's red eye, "it was only a glance at the mirror so you don't remember."

"Remember what! That you're the fox," Naruto yelled as he gripped his kunai tighter.

"Close, this half," he gestured to the feral half. "This is how I looked when I fought Haku when I beat him to a pulp."

"Huh, wait you mean. That's what you and if you are me then that's how I looked like back at the bridge?" Suddenly the feeling he had back then, at the bridge when he got that burst of power. They way his body felt, the way he wanted to kill haku, and the double in front of him, that was how he looked. He quickly shook his head. "No wait…who are you!"

"Your shadow. The one who bears your pain and sadness, all the dark thoughts you shove to the back of your mind. I bear them to protect you."

"Arg, is any of this going to make sense? I mean if you're my shadow then why do you look like that?"

"Because of the fox. I think it began back at the bridge. The second I used the fox's power my body turned to this; I think that was when the fox touched me. The fox…I don't know what the fox is doing. Slowly, I am starting…"he trailed off staring at his right hand.

"Wait," Naruto shook his head, "you protect me right, from what?"

"Yourself, the dark thoughts you have, your hatred, your sadness, your suspicions, your desire to kill, I take it all in order to protect you. I have no problem with that," the shadow went back to looking at the lake. "But ever since the fox touched me…I've started to have a problem with it."  
"So in order words, all those things, they go to you," Naruto asked, actually now that Naruto looked at it, Shadow wasn't happy or sad. He looked as if he was deep in thought.

"Yeah…."

"Alright so your part of my mind, so is this place my mind," Naruto asked as he relaxed and looked around. It all just looked like Konoha.

"Not exactly. It's Konoha, what you remember about it. Everything is created from your memory. Go for a stroll, I'm sure memories will pop up one after another if you focus long enough, including the forgotten ones."

"No, I can't do that," Naruto said as he walked towards the shadow. Walked around the swings and looked at himself. "This is kinda of my mind right, how do I wake myself up? My friends are in trouble, I need to save them!"

"…Are they really your friends?"

"Wha-YES- of course they are!"

"I hate them."

"Huh?"

"Those two, you say they are my friends but they're constant reminders of what I'm not. Sakura is smart and pretty, Sasuke is talented and adored; I'm neither."

"Hey, I've never-"

"All the time," Shadow interrupted. "Every time there's practice and they show they're better, smarter. When we walk in the streets together, the shopkeepers would beg Sakura to work part time for them for her brains, and many acknowledge Sasuke. Me? It's like I don't exist with them around. Of course those thoughts were sent to me…. Sorry, I got off track. I don't know how to wake up. But feel free to walk around. Maybe something will happen."

"Arg, really," Naruto said as he turned around and started leaving the park.

"Wait!"

"Huh," Naruto said as he turned around.

"Fight me," Shadow said as he began to swing.

"Will that wake me up?"

"No. Neither of us wins or loses anything."

"Then why would I fight you!"

"I said it before. I have no problem being the dumpster for your repressed thoughts. But I'm starting to now. One symptom is my desire to fight you. It's your choice."

"No thank you!" After that Naruto ran off.

He ran to the first place he could think of. The one place he sleeps and wakes up. His apartment. It was weird, well, what was weird how normal everything looked despite the paper stars and moon. The streets were silent, not a single soul around, yet nothing was dead. "Huh?" Naruto said as he stopped. He looked at the lit streets, more specifically, the stuff moving. Bags filled with whatevers were floating around; at restaurants plates and silverware were moving. A few wagons were even moving on their own. "The heck, why is everything moving on their own."

"Dumbass," Naruto turned to look at Shadow sitting up in front of a shop, only this time he was shorter and without a forehead protector, he wore navy-blue shirt with a sleeveless orange hoodie next to him was a mask of a dog with red with a scar on the dog's left side. "Do you remember this spot? That old man didn't want me ruining his business, so he threw that mask at me and told me to go away."

Naruto could remember it vividly. He was just casually walking by when he noticed the mask. He stopped for just a few seconds when the old man noticed him he told him to scram. He actually pushed Naruto away, threw him the mask and told him to never comeback. The people around him just stared. They held no hatred, nor pity. It was as if they watching a wild animal. Watching him as if he wasn't human. He remember calling out to them, asking them what they were looking at…no one answered "Yeah… So why are…HUH!" Naruto went back to look at the streets. It was filled with shadows, not the ones who stuck to the ground, but actual shadows that walked around.

"Why the surprised look," Shadow asked as he picked up the mask and examined it. "That's all they ever were to me. They all had different shapes, different hair, different clothes, hell different skin color and eye color, but their eyes were the same, it always had that same exact look. Nothing else mattered." He put his finger on the scar and somehow was able to drag the scar to the right side of the mask. "All I had to see were the eyes, that's all I needed, everything else was a shadow…" Shadow put the mask on and looked at Naruto, "fight me."

"NO!" Naruto said as he began running to his apartment. For a world created from his memories it sure felt real. His breath was ragged and he was sweating just like he would in real life. He ran to his apartment, opened the door and jumped on his bed. He squished his eyes shut. "C'mon C'mon!" he muttered as he buried his face into his pillows.

"Remember the night there was supposed to be shooting stars?" Naruto lifted his head and look to his right, the direction of the window. Sure enough Shadow was lying beside him with the mask still on, only he was smaller, wore khaki shorts with a black shirt, and his voice sounded younger too. He lifted his little hand and pointed up. Naruto turned over to see his ceiling. What was stuck on to it were crude cut outs of the moon and stars, the same ones outside in the night sky. There was one difference though; the ones on his ceiling were glowing green. Naruto felt another pain run through his head as a memory surfaced.

"Yeah. I wasn't allowed in any of the spots to see them. On my way home I found some kid throwing away a bunch of wet paper. He must have been angry, he kept kicking them, but from where I was I could see that they glowed. After the kid left I took the papers here. I looked for ones that were dry enough and cut them out and stuck them up there. I figured I could make my own shooting stars."

"But it was awful," Shadow continued, "I looked at it all night, hoping for something to happen."

"But nothing happened," Naruto continued, "I just hung them to display, so of course nothing would happen. One by one they fell…"

"What about there?" Shadow pointed towards the entrance. "That time I asked the third hokage who my parents were."

"Right…. I remember," Naruto said as he rubbed his head. "He brought me some money and I sprung the question on him. It wasn't the first time I asked."

"I remember. That's why I know he never lied, because he never lied. You remember the answer that time, right?"

"Yeah, it was the same as the other times…'Knowing who they were won't bring them back'…ARG!" Naruto jumped out of bed and ran out the door.

"Hey, fight-"

"NO!" Naruto shouted as he got out the door. "I don't have time for this!" Naruto ran to the next spot. There was only one other place he slept at. IN CLASS! He ran through the rooftops, ignoring the shadows below on the streets. Every once in a while a memory would flash. Pranks he pulled. Once he got to the academy, he could see a different set of memories. Memories of him being by himself, memories of him being laughed at, memories of watching everyone else eat together.

Running through the hall, he got memories of running away sneaking out, hearing other talk bad about him behind his back, how he go into fights. Everything he forgot and everything he wanted to forget was backing to him, regardless of his will. He got to his class breathing hard dripping with sweat.

"Your late again, Naruto!"

"Ah!" In front of Naruto was Iruka, not a shadow or his double claiming to be his shadow. The genuine Iruka. Iruka rubbed the bridge of his nose and shook his head. "Detention after class, grab a seat." Naruto did so absentmindedly. He went to his usual spot to sit. There were shadows in the class. "Alright class, quick review, how do we strengthen our chakra?" He turned and pointed to a shadow, "Yes…. Astute as always! That's right Chakra can only be strengthened by strengthening the body and spirit, and that goes without saying the connection between the two. We know how to strengthen our body, and we know experience strengthens our spirit, but how do we strengthen the connection between the two? Mmm Naruto," Iruka pointed at Naruto.

"Ah," Naruto pointed at himself.

"Yes you, well?"

"I-I donno."

"Correct. No one knows the exact way to strengthen the connection between the human spirit and the human body. And yet connecting the two is the core principle of molding chakra. Unless you have ditched the class like a certain someone then you should all be aware that there are multiple theories, which we will go into." It was weird. Iruka would ask a bunch of questions and the shadows would raise their hand, it was usually one shadow, and they would answer but Naruto never heard it. All he would hear was Iruka's voice and the chalk scribbling on the board that turned into a bunch of squiggly lines. The writing being a mess was obvious, he didn't pay attention. _Why isn't Iruka a shadow?_ Naruto thought to himself.

"WHY WOULD HE BE," A voice from outside called out to him, answering his thoughts. He turned to look outside. It was Shadow, still wearing the mask but back to Naruto's current image. Shadow was throwing shurikens at a wooden post. And he was missing each shot. "IRUKA IS THE ONLY PERSON I HAVE FAITH IN. SO OF COURSE HE WOULD NOT BE A SHADOW. DAMN! MISS! BUT WHAT ABOUT MY FRIENDS?" Naruto looked around but all he saw was Iruka writing on the board and bunch of shadows. "SASUKE, SAKURA, EVERYBODY ELSE? DOES ANYONE EVEN SEE ME AT ALL? WHAT ABOUT JIJI? COULD THE FOX BE RIGHT? DOES HE REALLY JUST SEE ME AS A MONSTER? Hmm?" Shadow said as he turned to see Naruto walking out the window.

"Why are you following me," Naruto asked as he approached.

"I'm your shadow. Naturally the shadow follows the body, right? …Let's fight."

"I need to wake up."

"Okay. Lets fight."

"WHY DO YOU WANT FIGHT SO BADLY," Naruto yelled in anger. Shadow just kept staring at him, Naruto couldn't see the face, but he could see the mismatched eyes. Blood red crimson and cerulean blue, they just kept looking at him. Naruto grounded his teeth, "Arrrrrgg, FINE! I win you help me wake up," Naruto demanded as he pulled out a kunai. But the shadow just stared at him as he reached behind him. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

In one quick motion, Shadow sent an attack at him, Naruto dodged but he still got hit in the shoulder. "OW!" Naruto yelled but he was confused. The thing that hit him went back to shadow. It was a wooden yo-yo with a red swirl as decoration. "The hell? WAH!" Naruto yelled as he dodged the yo-yo. Shadow kept turning and twisting his body, making the yo-yo hit against Naruto. "OW!" The head, the shoulder, the arm, the thigh, he hit 'em all. Of course Naruto would parry it back every once in a while but it still hurt. That's when Naruto remembered. He used to go around and hit kids with yo-yos and beat them into submission. It went on for a whole hour until they got smart. _And what they did was…_ Naruto thought to himself.

Naruto shot his left arm forward, towards the incoming yo-yo, the yo-yo went below his hand, so he quickly moved his hand down to grab it and with the Kunai in his right he cut the string of the yo-yo. "Heh," Naruto let out with a smile as he looked at Shadow, displaying the wooden toy.

"Dumb ass, it's just a toy, can't believe it took you this long to deal with it," Shadow said calmly.

"Ah," Naruto gasped, that was the same exact excuse he used against the other kids, specifically, the person he attacked the most and finally dealt with his yo-yo rampage…Sasuke. "ERRYAH!" Naruto cried as he as he threw the yo-yo and ran forward, sending a fury of swipes at Shadow who dodged by stepping back and side to side, Shadow spun around once and sent Naruto a punch to the nose with a cry of his own "HA!" "PUH!" Naruto was sent backwards and landed on his back. "AH!" He quickly stood up as he wiped away the blood from his nose. He quickly pushed his fingers together to form a hand seal. "Multi-Shadow Clones Jutsu!" And like that a bunch of clones came into existence.

"Multi-Shodow Clone jutsu," Shadow said as a bunch of clones, matching the same amount Naruto made, came into existence. Naruto gasped at the sight. "I'm your shadow, doing this much should be natural." After the shock disappeared, Naruto and his army rushed Shadow and his army. Both sides clashed loudly. Kunais and Shurikens were flying everywhere. Naruto could hear a pop every five seconds. Naruto kept kicking and punch everything with a mask.

Naruto kept getting cut up. Then the place began to collect smoke. It got so bad that Naruto had to slash every thing. He couldn't tell if he was winning or losing! It took a total of five minutes before the entire field was covered in smoke. "Arg, screw this!" He shouted as he threw a paperbomb.

Naruto jumped out of the smoke just as an explosion went off. Naruto was forced back a bit but luckily he was able to stay on his feet. Naruto was breathing heavily with lots of scratches, cuts, bruises and sweat on his body. As soon as the smoke disappeared, Shadow could be seen with the same injuries as Naruto.

"The hell," Naruto huffed out, "it didn't work?"

"As I-As I thought," Shadow huffed out, "we're equal-no matter what," Oddly, Shadow's mask was fine despite how the rest of the body was. Not a crack on it. "I'm okay with it but I am not okay with it."

"Make sense-will ya, dattebayo," Naruto huffed out. "You know everything I know, you're me and I can't beat myself. We're the same."

"No." Shadow huffed, "we're different. I'm everything you hold back. In a fight and otherwise," he pulled out his kunai, "I'd win, cause I'd wouldn't hold back. I can kill. I can WIN! HYA!" He threw the kunai at Naruto. Naruto dodged to the right, but then Shadow made a seal. "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Suddenly one Kunai turned into a hundred. Out of reflex Naruto brought his forearms up to cover his face and chest.

"AAAAAHH!" Naruto yelled as his body was pierced with kunais. He fell back on the ground. The kunais on him disappeared into smoke, letting all the blood pour out of his body. Naruto groaned in agony but he could still hear him.

"…You had the thought. But you pushed it back because you thought it was stupid. You-you were never aware of it, not consciously. On the whole you don't know anything about the shadow clone jutsu. I-I noticed…I won because of it…because I didn't hold back. I tried to kill…. Is the fox right? Will I never be able to hold on to anything with my own two hands?" Shadow looked at his hands as Naruto began to stand up, despite the blood coming out of his body. "Will I even have people to defend? If I do can I even defend them?"

"It was a fluke," Naruto said. "I'll defend everyone," he declared. Then for some odd reason a strong image of Sakura flashed through his mind, "I'll protect, Sakura. I gotta protect her!"

"What for," Shadow asked. "She's never really looked a me. Her, everyone, they always look at him," he turned his head to see a bunch of shadows gathering a round a person. "She will always look at Sasuke. That guy with the eyebrows, he only saw Sasuke too. He barely looked at me, when I tried to force him, he sent me spinning to a wall. In a fight between the two of us, who would my friends cheer for…me or Sasuke?"

"Shut up, I'm still standing," Naruto said as reached behind for his pouch and grabbed a kunai.

"Yeah," Shadow interrupted, "I'm always standing. And every time i have I've stood alone. I can get a lot of people close to me, but at the end of the day no one will stand up for me, hell they probably wouldn't even say any thing. Even if I'm on my own, no, especially because I'm alone I stand. I stand alone," he said with an air of confidence.

"The hell ya babbling, dattebayo?"

"You're going to see me again," Shadow said peering at Naruto from behind the mask. "You'll hold yourself back and get da shit beaten out you. That's when you will see me again."

"What?"

"Wake up."

* * *

Naruto's eyes snapped open. He was staring at the blue sky. He blinked a few times. "What?" He sat up and looked around. Choji and Shikamaru were next to him, in the distance he could see Ino tending to the guy with big eyebrows and a girl with panda-like buns was with Neji on a branch and Sakura was with Sasuke. When he saw Sakura he saw how tattered and cut up she was, and most of all he noticed hair. It was shorter and messed up, "Sakura! Damn what the hell happened, dattebayo!"

"So _now_ he wakes up, jeez what a drag."


	2. Von

For this next part look at my profile for the link to a cool pick. Honestly i would have liked to use it as a cover image but the guy would not get back to me. Also for those of you wondering, yes the title of the chapters are songs.

I don't own Naruto

* * *

Naruto was running. He was a little kid, wore gray shorts with a red t-shirt. He could see it in front of him. From the leftover glow of the set sun, he could see their shadows. Everyone's shadow, the rookie nine, the other kids from his gradating class, even the kid with the large eyebrows and his team. He was chasing after them, trying to catch up…but the distance didn't shrink. No matter how hard he pushed himself or how heavy his breath became, the distance would not shorten one bit. If anything the distance would increase. All his efforts didn't seem to do anything…but he couldn't stop. If he did he would lose sight of the shadows. He had to catch up at any cost! He had to reach them; at the very least he had to catch up to that one shadow, the one who stood out amongst them all.

"AH!" Little Naruto yelled as he tripped. He groaned as he tried to push himself up, but he couldn't. He look up, the shadows waned away. All that was left was darkness. It became thick, engulfing him. Little Naruto just let his head hit the ground. "But I tried…."

"…It doesn't matter."

* * *

Naruto snapped awake. It was still dark. He shook his head and shivered a bit. When the temperature drops it really drops, especially close to a river. Naruto was sitting up against a rock that was pretty cold on the surface. He quickly cursed the fact that he didn't think to pack a blanket or something. Of course no one on his team did either. The temperature in Konoha was just right. Cold breeze and a hot sun, but in the forest it got really cold at night. Right now Sakura was actually sitting up against a rock, sleeping, using his jacket a cover. He hugged his arms and gave them a good rub. All he had was his orange pants and a black t-shirt.

The giant rock they were sleeping underneath was large enough that it hid them well enough and there were a few builders in front of it that hid their bodies. …but that was it. With many other teams crawling around the forest they couldn't be safe. So naturally they took turns being lookouts. Sakura was first, then Sasuke, and lastly Naruto.

Naruto rubbed his eyes as he stood up. He walked closer to the bank of the river to see Sasuke sitting on a rock. He turned to face him.

"What's the password," Sasuke asked in a low voice, his hands next to his holster.

"Ramen," Naruto answered with yawn, it was picked out for him to remember.

"Took you long enough," Sasuke said walking back to where Naruto was sleeping. He yawned, "if you hear anything check it out with your jutsu. Be careful and wake us up for an actual reason."

"Tch, I know what to do," Naruto said as he walked to where Sasuke was sitting.

"Su-ahhh," Sasuke yawned again, this time covering his mouth, "sure, you do."

"Jerk."

"Loser," he with a small yawn.

And with that it was over. Sasuke went to sleep and Naruto began his shift as lookout. Naturally Naruto's shift was the longest, he had the most energy and the best jutsu suited for it. Sasuke only had his fire jutsu along with a few wire techniques. Sakura…well she was Sakura. Naruto let out one more yawn as he stared at the river. He looked up the moon hidden behind a thin cloud. He lifted his hand as if to reach for the moon, then he turned his hand and stared at the palm.

 _In the end you'll never be able to hold on to anything with those hands of yours._

Naruto's face morphed into anger as he squeezed his hand into a fist. "Tch."

 _Kushina Uzumaki….._

Naruto shook his head. It's been few days since that encounter with the fox. Everything he said... On one hand it could all be a lie, on the other it could all be true. Naruto couldn't decide which of the fox's words were true or not. He could write it all off as being lies, but if he did then everything would be a lie. He wanted a few things to be true. But then he would have to admit that the fox was right and that everything it said was true. Not to mention, he got his ass handed to him by his double that claimed to be his shadow. And then when he woke up he was told that Sakura, the guy with the bushy eyebrows, Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji protected him when the sound ninjas attacked them. If that wasn't pathetic then he didn't know what was.

 _On the whole you don't know anything about the Shadow clone jutsu._

Naruto pulled out a Kunai and stared at it. He thought about how his shadow created a bunch of shadow clones only instead of him it was kunais. He sighed as he tapped his head with the ring of the kunai. It's true. Every time he made a shadow clone it had everything Naruto does, otherwise his clones would be butt-naked. But that wasn't the case. They were always fully clothed and always understood what he had in mind. He barely had to waste his breath to tell them what they had to do. So why couldn't he make a shadow clone of kunai?

Naruto looked behind him. He quickly muttered in a low breath, "Shadow clone jutsu," with a hand seal and a double came to life. He quickly nodded to his double, who nodded back, and he got up and silently crept into the forest. They spent the entire time resting up, healing whatever they could; Naruto had the most improvement of them all.

 _Your body is a product of my chakra!_

He shook the memory away as he kept walking. He didn't walk to far; he kept going until he was sure no one else was around. He got into a throwing stance with the kunai he's been holding. He picked a tree that was fairly far away and threw it. He quickly smashed his hands and formed a seal. "Shadow clone jutsu!"

TULK!

The kunai hit the tree trunk. Naruto looked beside him. He created a half-dead shadow clone. It was just like when Naruto practiced for the first time. Of course the first time all he got was a blurry version of him. He sighed as he retrieved his kunai. He walked back and tried again. "Shadow clone jutsu!"

He kept at it for an hour or so but in the end he couldn't do it. He kept trying to create a bunch of shadow clones of kunais but the best he could do were half-dead or deformed clones. By the end of it he was breathing hard and beside him were few half-dead or deformed clones he didn't bother to dispel. He grinded his teeth together, rather than to retrieve his kunai, he pulled out another one while he was molding his chakra and threw it out of frustration, but the this time Naruto casted the jutsu too late, the kunai hit the tree. "Shadow clone jutsu!" And another clone came into existence. Yes it was deformed but there was difference. It appeared grabbing the kunai before it fell to the floor.

"REALLY!" Naruto shouted in frustration. He knew he shouldn't have but at the moment he was more frustrated than anything. Really, why was it taking so long and why was it harder to make a clone? He took a few breaths to calm down then he noticed it. He looked around at the deformed shadow clones that were around him and then the one near the kunais. His eyes opened wide in realization. He quickly dispelled the shadow clones and retrieved his kunais.

"How did I never notice it?" He should have questioned it the first day he learned the jutsu. The first time he used it to make a bunch of clones to beat up Mizuki, he had the guy surrounded. How in the world did it get around to do that? With a hardened face, he looked at the tree that had plenty of stab marks. He casted the jutsu again.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" And another double popped up. But it was right beside him, not across from him.

"Didn't work," the clone said.

"I know…wait how do you know what I know."

"I don't know. Jutsu?"

"Yeah probably," Naruto said as he dispelled the clone and got ready to do it again. But this time he had a different idea. "Multi-shadow clone jutsu!" This time a line of clones curved in a half circle form his right all the way to the other side at the tree. "Cool, so that's how," Naruto said as he dispelled them. He casted the jutsu again in different patterns, a straight line, zigzags, diamond patterns. He tried to make a circle of clones and get one in the center, but it was a no go. He could make clones as far as he could see, but the maximum range he could make a clone away from his body or away from his clones body was somewhere between two to four feet. With that logic he tried another idea. He created a shadow clone and had it make shadow clones going above its head. The first time the clones were apart and they all fell on top of the first as result, most dispelling in the process. The second time, another shadow clone summoned more and had imagined them standing on top of each other's shoulder. It worked, until the first clone dropped to his knees, causing everyone else to fall forward, most dispelling in the process.

Another idea hit him and he confirmed it. He can even create shadow clones with varying positions and stance. For instance he could summon two clones, one could be in fighting stance with a kunai out while the other would have his hands set to run a hand seal at the same time. He could even summon a clone off the ground doing a kick. At one point he jumped in the air and casted the jutsu and felt himself being pulled to the side. He summoned a clone grabbing him with the order of pulling him in mock attempt to dodge something.

Naruto smiled, but then he frowned. He had no idea how the clone that started the process got to the other side without him making an array of clones. He tried thinking about what he did when that happened and the only thing he could think of were the kunais. So he got out the two kunais. He threw the first one and waited until it landed. Once it hit the tree he casted the jutsu…but the clone was next to him. Naruto quickly dispelled him and tried again. And it failed again.

"Damn," he cursed. "What did I do that time?" he asked himself. He was frustrated that he couldn't clone kunais so he just threw one and… "Ah! Can you do that?" He pulled out another one kunai, ring facing down, and this time began to focus his chakra onto the kunai while staring at it with his left hand doing a small hand seal to mold chakra. It did not go the way he expected. "OW!" Naruto yelled. Something between the palm of his hand and the kunai caused some sort of explosion. Well nothing major, just a severe push. His hand and the kunai were pushed apart, his hand flying forward but the kunai was pushed towards his chest. Luckily all it did was hit Naruto's chest, not pierce it, but his hand on the other hand. "Ow-ow" Naruto muttered as he pulled out a roll of bandages. His palm looked like it had a huge blister that exploded; it even drew a little bit of blood.

 _My very chakra runs through every litter of your blood!_

He shook the thought away and focused on the burning sensation on his hand. After he was done warping it in bandages he remembered about the guy with the bushy eyebrows in the jumpsuit, how his hands looked. They were covered with scars and stitches. The guy and his team spent the entire past year training for the exam. "This is nothing," Naruto said as he went back to focusing chakra on the kunai. Slowly this time, last time he was rushing through it. He slowly focused his chakra. There was another push, it wasn't like the last one, just a small pressure that aggravated his wound a bit. "Alright, how about this." He tried a different approach. Instead of pouring chakra into one spot, he would try to drown the kunai in his chakra, pretty much covering it. He threw it but for some odd reason, and he aimed right, he missed the tree. As soon as he realized, Naruto did the jutsu. "Damn, Shadow clone jutsu!" After a few seconds, a clone came running back with the Kunai.

"It worked," the clone said handing Naruto the kunai.

"Alright, dattebayo," Naruto smiled he grabbed the kunai and dispelled the clone. Naruto thought about it and came to one conclusion, "as long as my chakra is there I can make a shadow clone." He smiled, "I'm not smart like Sakura, but I can figure things out when I have to," he said aloud, he had no reason for doing it but he felt like he had to say it. Get back at his shadow or something. If he had to pick something it would probably be pride.

Naruto began to focus his chakra into the blade again but this time he stabbed it into a nearby tree, noting that it sunk in deeper then it normally does and cracked a bit more than usual.

"Huh, hollow tree." This time he did a test. He didn't know how long his chakra lasted. At first he varied with different amounts to see how long it the chakra would stick. He'd grab the kunai infuse it with different amount of chakra, count the seconds and casted the jutsu. Naruto found that if it's a quick infusion chakra would stay on the kunai for at least four or five seconds, if he did it longer the chakra would stay for somewhere between twenty to thirty seconds. But it never got past forty-five seconds. That was when he got another idea. He quickly pulled out the kunai, noting he had to force it out. "The hell, wasn't it hollow?"

"Shadow clone jutsu," he made another clone. He had the clone go to the tree. Then he casted it again, "shadow clone jutsu," and this time the clone turned to white smoke that split and became two shadow clones, all within half a second or so. "Cool" Naruto dispelled them and pulled out his kunai again. He looked at the kunai then he looked at the tree where the other two kunai were imbedded. He slowly infused it, he got ready, arm pulled back and he threw it. As soon as he let got he tried to cast the jutsu as fast as he could, but by the time he was done the kunai was already embedded into the tree.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" Even though it was imbedded, two kunais still appeared behind the ring of the embed kunai and fell to the ground. Naruto was stuck. He was happy that it worked but on the other hand, he didn't have enough time to clone the kunai before it hit the tree. Back when he fought his shadow, his shadow held onto the kunai just long enough and knew beforehand how long it took for him to make a hand sign and how much leeway he had until the kunai reached Naruto. Naruto could do it; it's just that the tree was closer to him compared to how faraway he was from his Shadow. Naruto sighed as he went to reach for another kunai…but he stopped. He lifted his hand and had another idea…He quickly closed his eyes and focused on where the kunai was in the body, "slowly," he muttered. He began to release chakra in the general area his holster was at…It was easier than climbing up a tree without your hands, plus he didn't have to adjust his chakra to stick to anything. He opened his eyes with the thought of a kunai in his mind. He casted the jutsu again, "Shadow clone jutsu." He quickly moved his hand apart with his right hand doing a grabbing motion and he found that a kunai was in his hand.

"Cool," Naruto was always conservative with his kunais because they were expensive and hard to land a hit on a moving target, so he always went close in. He thought back to his past training. Now if he threw the kunai he just cloned and made cloned on it, two or more kunai would appear but the original one would disappear. If he did so then he could probably just aim in the general area, do the jutsu and still hit his target.

Then he heard two pops, he turned to look at the direction of where the three kunais were still imbedded into the tree and noticed the two small white clouds on the floor that were currently disappearing. He got another idea. He threw the current kunai clone in his hand and dispelled it. As soon as he saw the white cloud of smoke he casted the jutsu again…and it resulted in a very deformed clone an inch away from naruto, really it was probably less. "The heck? Was the chakra coming back to me?"

Naruto tried it again and this time with the image of regular clone in mind but the result was the same. He tried again and again and the result still ended the same, it was literally touching him. "So I can't use chakra coming back to me."

Then when a really dumb idea hit him. "No it couldn't work could it?" Naruto made a quick shadow clone with a command. The clone nodded and moved to the tree with the kunais embedded. Naruto moved to the side to get a better view. The clone closed its eyes as it made a hand seal to mold chakra. Then it quickly casted the shadow clone jutsu, well it did the hand seal before the clone pulled his arm back, then said, "Shadow clone jutsu," as it threw a punch. Right on top of the clone was a bunch arms that all punched the tree at the same time, dispelling as soon as it hit.

"No way," Naruto said with a smile. His dumb idea was that maybe he could make a shadow clone of an arm throwing a punch. He simply molded chakra and focused on his right arm. He could probably do kick versions as well!

Then he frowned. He quickly went over and told the clone to do something that made the clone smile ear to ear. "Well don't feel too broken up about it," Naruto said sarcastically.

"No problem," the shadow clone said, still smiling. It moved away from Naruto, turned around. Once again, he closed his eyes, hand seal to mold chakra, and then he opened his eyes and began to charge at Naruto and did the jutsu…Yep he ordered the clone to use the new variation on him. He needed to know if it was legit attack or not. After being hit by ten or twelve arms and knocked flat on his back, he found it was. It felt like he was being hit by a bunch of consecutive punches and each one was as strong as the last. He sat up and dispelled the clone before he could cheer. Then he lied back down. It was no joke, a few more arms and he might have had broken ribs or something besides the bruises.

He closed his eyes for a bit. It was still the same jutsu but he wanted to name all the variations he came up with.

Kunai shadow clone and he could probably do it with a shuriken too, the jutsu's name was long enough as it is. So instead he decided to go with something simple, "Shadow blade…but I think I can clone other things…shadow tool…shadow craft?" he thought about for a bit before he settled on one name, it was lamer than his first choice but it fits. "Shadow build jutsu?" He shook his head. Then he smiled, a cooler name: "shadow forge jutsu"

Now for when he cloned more than one item…Multi-shadow build jutsu didn't seem good as name…shadow fury could fit but it was out there, shadow storm would only bring up false expectations…Instead of general name he could just name the jutsu based on the situation…. but that would take a while to remember…! "Shadow stream jutsu."

As for the for punch or kick shadow clone… "Shadow punch and shadow kick." Its best not to over think things.

Naruto opened eyes and looked at the sky. It was still dark but he could see that it was slightly clearing up. He was about to run out of time if he hasn't already. If his teammates found out he was training instead of keeping watch they would freak out and yell at him.

Naruto let out a toothy grin and pumped a fist into the air. "I'm kicking your ass next time, jerk," That's right, when he snuck up with the shadow clone jutsu it was the first time he was able to tie Sasuke up too… and now that he knew a few more tricks…. "And you too, Bushy Brows," The shadow's words still got to him…it was true, that guy barely even bothered to noticed that he existed and just went straight for Sasuke. And when Naruto charged him he simply gave Naruto a spin…. The second time he saw him was when his teammate carried him away. "Kick your ass the next chance I get." After he woke up everyone pretty much said he was useless the entire time…. "I'll show you all; I define myself." Chalk it up to pride if you want, but after everything that happened, from others mocking him, avoiding him, having a friend die and another nearly dying for his sake, being eaten by giant snake, knocked out and being useless, he was completely motivated to prove himself. Then the fox's words came to mind…

"Just like the gutsy shinobi, huh. What exactly does that mean?"

He shook the thought away as he got up. He suddenly felt like going back. He learned his lesson the time he went to go pee in a bush and then got tied up by some freak in wet suit. So what if his teammate were sleeping, doesn't mean a few ninja's wouldn't just wake up early or stay up the whole night.

Then a thought hit him, he quickly snapped his head on the direction of his friends. His clone was basically tough balloon and it didn't know any of the tricks Naruto just learned. The clone was just basically an alarm. He panicked and took off running to where his teammates were at. It didn't take long for him to get to where his clone sat. And he's clone was as pail as ghost.

"What happened?"

"B-bear…you?"

"New jutsu…wait bear?"

"B-big bear, freaking giant!"

"Oh c'mon, how big could it be?"

"H-huge!"

"Arg fine," Naruto said as he sighed. He could tell from the clone's pleading eyes. He dispelled him.

"Really hoOOOOly-crap that's big," Naruto said as his eyes became owlish. The image of very giant bear, practically the size of building came to his mind. It came out of nowhere and it was on the same side as Naruto! Luckily the thing only came for a drink of water and left without making any trouble. Naruto sat down on the rock his clone was sitting on, going slightly pail before a thought it him.

"The hell. Did I-did I just get the memory of the bear?" He looked at the boulders his teammates were sleeping behind and smiled to himself. "I got time…"

* * *

"Jeez what were you doing during your shift," Sakura asked Naurto who had snot running down his nose and blood-shot eyes with small bags underneath them.

"Being on the look out for giant bears," Naruto responded dumbly as he wiped the snot away on his arm with a smile. _So much for eversion to sickness ya dumb fox._

"EWW! Go wash your arm!"

"But the bear, I haveta protect you just incase the bear comes back."

"Naruto there is no giant bear, just go! Jeez, and take a bath while you are at it. You stink," Sakura said pinching her nose with one hand while arranging the stones next to the river into a pit of sorts for fire. The sun started rising and Sakura woke up early, it was still cold in the morning so sakura was still wearing his jacket.

"'Kay," was all Naruto said as he got up and left to the river. Truthfully Naruto was actually putting another theory to the test…turns out his clones memories go back to him…it was weird to say the least. It didn't feel like he was getting anything at all, it just felt like the memory was there the entire time, he wasn't even aware of the memories until he thought about it. Naruto then tested to see if he could command the clones with his mind…that was an epic fail. So then he tried to touching his clones while thinking of something…nothing…but when he had chakra in his hand and touched a clone, the clone got the command. Naruto had the clone do the same, to see if they could communicate with chakra. Well the clone disappeared, no cloud or anything, the chakra went back to his body as well as the information. And that was it, he needed to touch the clone with chakra to tell it something while the clone can do the same or dispel.

Once he got to the river he looked around with narrow eyes… "Freakin' bear, dattebayo." Then he looked inside the river and saw a bunch of fish, and then his stomach grumbled. So he quickly began to strip.

"What are you doing, looking for bears?" Naruto turned to see Sasuke. Walking toward the river with his toiletries.

"Breakfast, gonna catch some fish."

"Knowing you…" Sasuke sighed. "Just give me a sec and I'll help."

"Yeah right, I'll do just fine" Naruto said as he jumped in with his boxers. "Wah! Cold!"

"It's a wiver wha dwi wou espehct? " Sasuke said as he brush his teeth

"But I didn't expect it to be this cold! Hey you mind brushing down there? I don't want your spit on me."

Sasuke spit into the river, "yeah I mind, I don't want your germs in my mouth," he scooped some water into his mouth and gargled before he spit back into the river.

"Gross," Naruto said as he avoided the spit. Then he looked at Sasuke before he went wide eye.

"Done. Now go under the water and-what?" Sasuke asked as he noticed Naruto's owlish eyes.

"Don't…move…" Naruto said in a low voice.

"Forget it, I'm not fa-" Sasuke began before he felt a large breath on him. He went wide eyed too, the breath was too big to be from a human. He slowly turned his head to see what was behind him. It was a giant bear. The bear was easily the size of a house, brown fur, sharp claws and horrible breath.

Neither of the two genins wanted to move. Of course either of them could handle the bear but the bear was too close, close enough to kill. So instead both genins stayed still. Sasuke was as stiff as a rock and Naruto was being carried down the river. The bear was edging closer making a few bear noises while sniffing Sasuke. Then there was a loud bang in the forest on the other side of river followed by a few screams.

 **ROAR!**

The bear let out a loud roar and jumped to the other side of the river and took off running on all fours to the source of the sound. Both genins sighed in relief. Sasuke fell on his but as Naruto swam to the edge of the river, their side, and grabbed on to a rock.

"There really is a giant bear," Sasuke said.

"Told ya," Naruto said.

"How the hell did it sneak up on me," Sasuke asked, more so for himself.

"I'm still trying to figure that shit out. It did the exact same thing to me last night. It came out of nowhere for a drink of water and left. Either way Sakura, she will flip when we till her." Then Naruto thought of something. "Hey, Sasuke, after we catch the fish…we would cook it in the bon fire, right?"

"That's the only way to kill off anything potentially harmful."  
"R-right…but would the bear be able to smell that?"

"It would," Sasuke said with a sigh. "And it's not just that bear, other animals would probably go to the source of the smell too. If they can then the other teams should be able to as well…. We could eat it raw but…I rather not risk it."

"So what then?"

Sasuke thought for a while before he smiled, "stones,"

"Eh?"

"I'll go get things set up, are you sure you can catch enough fish for all of us?"

"Yeah!"

"Don't mess up, and make it fast, we can't waste any more time," and with that Sasuke left.

"Don't-mess-up," Naruto repeated in high-pitched voice before he brought his hands together, he smiled; this was a piece of cake.

* * *

"Oh so this is what you mean," Naruto said as he sat on large stone letting the air around him dry his body.

"This is smart Sasuke," Sakura said.

"No, smart would be steaming it but we don't really have much to work with," Sasuke said as he put fish cutlets on a heated stone via-ninjutsu. That's right, Sauske told Sakura to stop collecting firewood and to help him look for stones with flat surfaces. They cleaned up the rocks as much as they could before Sasuke heated it up enough to cook the fish. "It will still leave behind a scent, just not as strong as it would with a small pit of fire plus no smoke. Still we should hurry up and get moving. We only have roughly twenty-four hours until the exam is over." He said as he used his kunai to scrape fish off the heated stone and flipped them over. "By the way, why did you get so many fish?" There was literally a pile of fish next to Sasuke.

"Heh heh sorry I guess I went overboard. I just feel so…I donno, I just want to kick some ass, dattebayo," Naruto said. He's been eager ever since he woke up from his trip to his memory created Konoha. He wanted to beat someone. He had to. He was confident, he learned a bunch of new tricks overnight and he wanted to put it to the test.

"Naruto calm down, you too Sasuke," Sakura said. "You guys are forgetting one thing."

Both Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other then they looked at Sakura and asked, "What?"

"That person back in the forest burned the heaven scroll we had. Originally there were thirteen pairs of scrolls, meaning only thirteen teams pass. With our original one gone the number was reduced to twelve teams right there."

"Yeah we already know that," Sasuke said. "All the other teams might have already passed the exam."

"I don't think so," Sakura said. "Look," she began to rearrange a few stones in a circle while Sasuke scrapped fished off stone and placed it on top of a large cleaned leaf and handed it to Naruto who stared at Sakura wearing his jacket work. After she was done she placed a stick in the center. "This is our goal," she pointed to the stick. "And all the teams were let in through random entrances around the circle," she motioned the circle. "And the condition is that we have to have two scrolls before we go in. But the thing is that this is a big field. Just like a few days ago, four teams could converge at one point in a match then it can become a big fight that can get blown out of proportions."

"Yeah but that is the risk of the exam," Sasuke said handing her a few cooked fish on leaf.

"Weah, womewhing wike what was bwound to hwapon," Naruto said while chewing his fish.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, it is disgusting," Sakura said. "And yes, that is true. But do you guys remember the other teams in classroom," Sakura asked.

"Yeah, what about it," Sasuke asked, sitting down with his own leaf of fish. "A bunch of them were not even from our village."

"Yeah and lot of them were old guys like Kabuto, NOM," Naruto stuffed his face with another piece of fish.

"Hate to say it, but Naruto is right," Sakura said surprising both males.

"What/wut?"

"Half of the teams were older than us. Like, that Kabuto guy, they probably have more experience and know how to deal with this exam. Look, the field is too big. Just as we talked about earlier, even if it's too big, it's not impossible for four teams to converge on one point like it did a few days ago. This means the opposite is also possible; one team can go in one direction and not find anyone at all. If I were someone like Kabuto who was older and more experience, I would know all about the risks. Therefore I would then do one of either two things. I would hunt down the closest team…or… I would head straight for the objective and camp out there and set a trap for one someone who passes by..."

"And take their scroll," Sasuke finished the thought when he realized where she was going. "There might still be a few people doing the same thing, we can beat them for their scroll."

"Alright, let's get going and take some scrolls, dattebayo," Naruto said as he fished eating.

"Calm down," Both Sasuke and Sakura said.

"It's still a trap you idiot," Sasuke said.

"We have no idea what kind of trap they set up or even where it is. Just a general location," Sakura said.

"And we have no idea what their abilities are or if that person who attacked us is there. We can't rush it, but we have to pick up the pace."

"Well what do you guys have in mind?" Naruto asked.

"Well," Sakura began, "we could go with a stealth approach."

"We could take too long looking out for traps and being silent. Besides that, everyone will be on the look out for stealth. Never mind the fact that Naruto's clothes ruins the very concept of stealth."

"Hey! I'll let you that orange is very tactical, datebayo," Naruto defended.

"Ignoring that. Then how about having Naurto's clones scout ahead? Naruto could have his clones henge into us and move ahead of us, if they get in fight we go around."

"Wouldn't work either," Sasuke said, "Naruto's clones only need a well placed hit to dispel. Combine that with Naruto's head, the clones would dispel after a few minutes."

"Oh right."

"OH COME ON," Naruto said with an angry face. "Look how about we do this. I make a shit ton of clones henge them into people from our village that we know is in the exam. Then we move in the same direction and get to the tower as fast as we can. Then we think of getting scrolls when we get there."

"Naruto," Sakura sighed as she shook her head, "That would only draw attention to us and-"

"Actually that could work," Sasuke said with a hand on his chin.

"Eh…you really think so?"

"Well it's not like a single team would mess with a group of teams moving together. And it would not be unusual for teams from the same village to work together under these circumstances. In all honesty, Naruto's tendency to draw attention to himself is actually the best way to go about it."

"So in other words, we are going puff out our chest, make ourselves seem larger, and hope we don't get attack?"

"You got a better plan?"

"Well…we could…or maybe…no, I don't."

"Then we agree, but the question is, how long can Naruto maintain the henge and who to henge into, assuming his clones will last."

"Heh, check this out," he put his hand together, "shadow clone jutsu" and came into existence. Then he grabbed his clone by the shoulder. "Go ahead, stab him," Naruto said.

"Oi oi why do I have to be stabbed?"

"You're the clone."

"Shut up," Sasuke said as he threw a kunai as the clone's arm.

"OW!"

"Here we go," Naruto said, he kept his chakra flowing into the clone before the kunai dug into her arm. Then Naruto felt his chakra being sucked or pulled out by his hand, it happened regardless if he concentrated chakra in his hand beforehand or not. He just didn't want to take a chance. The clone's arm, specifically where the kunai was embedded, smoke started coming out, pushing out the kunai. Four seconds later the kunai was out and the clone was back to it's original condition.

"So you can make them last longer," Sakura asked looking at the clones.

"No," Sasuke said before either of blonds could speak. "He found away to fix them up before they disappear. By the looks of it, he either needs physical contact or a way to deliver chakra. And judging by the way he looks, he figured it out after I went to sleep…meaning that bear could have mauled us."

"Wait-there really is a bear!?"

"Does it work with your clones," Sasuke asked ignoring Sakura.

"Yeah check it."

"Aw do I have to," the clone whined.

"Just do it." The clone grumbled before he grabbed Naruto arm. Then he started to disappear, almost as if he was deflating into Naurto's arm before he was gone without a trace, no smoke or trace. "I can share chakra between myself and my clones…so who do I henge into?"

"Six people," Sasuke said.

* * *

"What if we don't find anyone else?" One random shinobi form the leaf village asked.

"We will," another guy, the leader of the team, said. "We have one of thirteen earth scrolls, and there are only thirteen heaven scrolls. We have one so the other must be out there."

"Guys," third guy said, "hear that, some one coming but…the hell its weird."

"Quick hide. When they come we jump them," the leader said.

"But-"

"In the bush!" Everyone hid in the bushes and waited. Then when the group came by… "Holy shit, everyone stay still." What passed were nine people, the nine rookies who entered the exam.

"The hell," the first guy whispered.

"You can team up," the third guy asked.

"Shit, I wished I thought of that," the leader said. He knew a few guys he was okay with, they would have not disagreed to group up and then fight it out in the end.

"Crap we could have done that," the third guy groaned.

"Yeah," the leader agreed. "We were so hung up on everyone being our enemy that we never considered it."

"Yeah. Group at the tower then search and destroy," the first guy said as the team passed.

"…FUCK!"

* * *

"Holy crap, they ignored us," Sakura said.

"Knew it," Naruto said, "but why didn't we attack them."

"Because I got a good look at them before they hid in the bush," Sasuke said with sharingan eyes on and his hand on his shoulder. He was slightly in pain but he smiled. "They had an earth scroll."

"Oh my god," Sakura said with slow creeping smile. "Even if eleven scrolls were already turned in…"

"We got a shot," Naruto said.

"A'right," his clones henged as Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Hinata, Kiba, and Shino.

"Don't do that," Sasuke said in annoyed tone. "Just stay quiet."

"So how do we 'recharge' Naruto's clone," Sakura asked.

"He'll just grab a clone by the hand and that clone would grab others and share chakra," Sasuke replied, "Well stop in a few hours, try to hold out until then."

That's how it went for a few hours. They kept jumping through the trees. They avoided large animals and took the relatively safe paths but everyone had their guard up. Finally they decided to take a break.

"Do we even know were the tower is?" It was Naruto who asked. He was tired. Sure Sakura was worn out too but Naruto had to supply six clones chakra for hours. Even he would get tired.

"No," Sakura admitted. "But I don't know how. We must of lost our direction," Sakura said.

"Or maybe it was a genjutsu," Sasuke said. Right now everyone, clones included who were silent but eating fish that was packed up by Sasuke, were sitting on logs next to a river. "Someone must have been spooked by how big we were. Either way we should slow down and make sure we're going the right way."

"Yeah, hey Naruto is should be fine now, you can probably release the clones and give yourself a break."

"'Kay, guys hold hands." Naruto said as he held on to two clones who held hands with the other clones. Then one by one they began to disappear without leaving behind a smoke or popping sound.

"Well that's interesting," All three genins stood up and pulled out a Kunai. "Relax I don't want anything," a guy stood out from a tree. "Well that's not true, but I was afraid to ask. When I saw you guys it nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Ah you're…" Naruto began as he recognized as he slightly relaxed.

"The guy who helped us out in the beginning, Kabuto, right," Sakura asked also relaxing.

"Yeah, that's right," Kabuto, the guy with ash-grey hair that was mostly kept into a pony tail and black round glasses.

"What do you want," Sasuke said, causing both Naruto and Sakura to stiffen again.

"Relax, I told you it's not that. I had favor to ask, but I was bit shy to walk up to a group of three teams."

"Oh yeah, what would that be?"

"Let me join you."

"Huh," Naruto let out.

"You see I got separated from my teammates, our plan is to meet up at the tower incase we ever get separated. But I was afraid of wondering by myself."

"Oh I see," Sakura said as she and Naruto relaxed.

"That's not the whole story," Sasuke said, causing both to Naruto and Sakura to stiffen once again. "Being by yourself would not really be that big of deal…unless your plan is to get us to follow you into a trap and-"

"Ah you can relax," he pulled out two scrolls, "I already have my scrolls, see."

"Eh, both scrolls," Naruto said in surprise.

"Well he did say that it was his sixth try so he should be able to do this much," Sakura said causing Kabuto to let out an embarrassed chuckle.

"Right," Kabuto agreed.

"Alright, so hand them over," Sasuke.

"Huh?" Both Naruto and Sakura let out in surprise.

"But Sasuke he helped you figure out who bushy brows and creepy red head was," Naruto said.

"Naruto we have one day left," Sasuke said. "He's by himself with both set of scrolls. The guys behind us had an earth scroll so we know there's another heaven scroll around. He'll be fine."

"Then can I assume you guys also have an earth scroll," Kabuto said with straight face. No body said anything but Kabuto smiled "I see, you do. And for you to head for the tower means, you have realized the easiest way to go about this. You are hunting for people setting traps."

"Whoa," Naruto said.

"How did you-" Sakura began.

"I take it I'm right. Well then, how's this," Kabuto began, "I'll take you to the tower, you see every tree or so has a small visual trap that distorts your sense of direction. I already know the way so I can take you to the tower without the hassle. I'll also help you find someone who's setting up a trap. To tell you the truth, I know where a few guys with a heaven scroll are set up. My team had a skirmish with them a few days ago. They really know how to get the jump on people, not so much taking it. If you're not careful you could accidently spring it."

"Why do that," Sasuke asked, "why go through the trouble when we have one guy with both scrolls. We can take your scrolls, give them the extra earth scroll and be on our way." Even though Sasuke said this Kabuto was still smiling.

"Say that was fish you guys were eating, right?"

"What of it?"

"From the looks of it, you guys cooked it on a flat surface, a rock or so. Probably so that no one would be attracted to the smell, at least not as they would be if you had cooked it on spit."  
"Your point?"

"Did you cook it properly-actually I should probably get to the point. I neglected to mention this the first time we met, but I am a medical shinobi."

"A medical shinobi," Sakura asked.

"What's that," Naruto asked.

"Just like the name implies," Kabuto said, "I am a shinobi who practices medicine. And from what I can tell, you guys have had your fair share of cuts and bruises. So how's this: In addition to helping you get to the tower in the middle of the forest, and helping you get a heaven scroll, I will also provide my medical services. Chances are that we might enter the third phase of the exam right after we get there."

"What! For real, dattebayo!"

"So how about it?"

"Tch, no th-"

"SASUKE," Sakura said surprising everyone. "Please, we might need it and your shoulder…."

"Huh," Naruto let out in confusion.

"And besides that, if what Kabuto is saying is true, it would be to our benefit to follow him and instead of letting Naruto take all the burden. Not to mention we could all use a small check up after the sound nins attacked us. A few days of rest isn't going to heal much. Especially…" she eyed his shoulder.

"Tch…fine," Sasuke said putting his kunai away, followed by Sakura and Naruto.

"Glad we can work together," Kabuto said putting his scrolls away. "Sorry to impose any further but…you wouldn't happen to have an extra fish by any chance," at moment Kabuto's stomach grumbled.

"After you asked us if it was cooked right?" Kabuto let out a sheepish laugh. Sasuke sighed, "help yourself, Naruto fished a bunch. Speaking of which. Naruto, make a few clones and get up and be on lookout."

"Huh? Why do I have to do it," Naruto asked.

"You can make clones and you already finished your fish. After Kabuto is done eating his fish and examining us, we'll keep watch until he is done examining you."

"Arg…fine," Naruto said.

"I'll be sure to do my best," Kabuto said with a smile.

"Don't slack off this time," Sasuke said.

"Yeah yeah," Naruto said as he climbed a tree while making a few clones that came into existence also walking up the tree.

* * *

"This sucks," Naruto whined while resting his head on his arm with his back on the trunk of the tree. He had the clones keep watch. He was tired and the fish didn't give him much energy. He napped. Or tried to at least, it is very hard to sleep on a branch comfortably without falling. He sighed with his eyes closed. He was close to the top of tree, far away enough for no one to see and shaded enough from the sun. But the conversion kept playing and playing in his head. And then that trip to his memory-made Konoha, how the hell could he forget it!

The shadows, his Shadow who used the mask, the thing inside him that protects him from himself, if that even makes sense.

Am I really weak?

Could the old man really be lying?

Was the destruction really caused because I was born?

Is Kushina Uzumaki really my mother? Is she even real?

How do my friends see me?

Am I really…human?

All these thoughts plagued his mind.

 _From this moment you will face many hardship,_ a female voice so clear yet unclear came to mind along with the rattle of chains.

Naruto snapped his eyes open to see himself extending his arms forward reaching for something. After a while he found himself breathing hard and covered in cold sweats. "Did I fall asleep," he muttered.

 _You'll get the da shit beaten of you…. You are weak without me!_

Naruto clenched his fist with pure hatred on his face, "I don't need you," he muttered to himself. Then a memory from a shadow clone popped into his head. He looked down, "My turn huh." He was about to start climbing his way down when he thought of something. He looked at the trunk. He quickly took at a kunai and curved something before he started making his way down. He carved one sentence only.

 **I'll never lose**

* * *

"Great," Sasuke said as he and Sakura began to climb trees "hurry it up before the other guys trip the trap." Naruto had a clone nearby, the instructions were simple, just wait till the clone is told to get him, then get out of sight and dispel. If the next part of the exam happened to be a one on one then Naruto was going to try to keep many facts about his jutsu hidden even if it was just for a little while.

"But I feel fine, lets just go already," Naruto said.

"Naruto don't be an idiot," sakura said, "You were out the longest. Plus that weird person had is tongue all over you. There are plenty of diseases and viruses that are transmitted through bodily fluids ya know. Like saliva from the tongue that was around you."

"Mrrrmm," he groaned at the memory and shuddered.

"She's right you know. But don't worry," Kabuto said placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder as Sakura and Sasuke disappeared. At the amount he had a stethoscope around his neck. "I'm sure your fine. I'll try to be as fast as I can." Naruto let out a defeated sigh.

"Fine… so…what do I do?"

"Your hand," Kabuto said noticing the bandages, "let me see it."

"Okay," Naruto said handing his hand to Kabuto who unwrapped it.

"Well that's odd," Kabuto. Naruto looked at his hand, it was more or less healed but the bandages still had a bit of skin attached to it. The fox came to mind.

"What happened?"

"I skin myself," Naruto said quickly, "or I thought I did, I felt a burn. So I wrapped it right away."

"Well," Kabuto began as he let go of Naruto's hand, "Next time wash your hands. You wouldn't want germs in an open wound, especially when it's wrapped," he finished as he grabbed a stethoscope.

"Okay," Naruto said.

"Good, now open your jacket and lift your shirt," Kabuto said putting the stethoscope in his ears. "Any pain recently?"

For a moment Naruto thought of his conversion with the fox again, "no." Naruto said in a simple manner as he lifted his black shirt. "So anything wrong with Sasuke's shoulder?"

"Sorry, Doctor-patient privileges. Don't man up now, I'm supposed to know if you have pain even if it's a bite from an ant," Kabuto said as he placed the round part of the stethoscope on Naruto's chest. "Breath in."

"I'm sure," Naruto said before he breathed in deeply.

"Good," Kabuto said. Before he took the things off. "Say, that jutsu before, it was the shadow clone jutsu right?" Kabuto asked as he moved behind Naruto.

"Eh you know about it," Naruto asked in surprised.

"Well I did say I did my research well," Kabuto said. "Lift your arms." Naruto did so with his gaze set on the ground. "Alright let me know if you feel any pain." Kabuto began to bend Naruto arms a bit. "You know, to be honest, out of all the rookies, the person whom I was most afraid of was you." For a second Naruto felt a chill run down his spine. "According to what I could find, you defeated a low level chunin with a forbidden B-rank jutsu that was learned at record speed. To be honest, with the kind of personality everyone said you had, I figured you would be pretty evil." Naruto relaxed.

"I can't be evil," Naruto said, "I'm gonna be the hokage."

"Ehhh, so that's your goal," Kabuto said as he finished toying with Naurto's arms. "Alright good."

"Yeah what about it?"

"Nothing, just thinking about what makes you special," Kabuto said as he moved to Naruto and grabbed one of his legs and began to toy with it. "Again, any pain at all."

"No, what do you mean special?"

"Just that," Kabuto said, "Something that would make you distinguish yourself. I mean the first Hokage was known for being able to do just about anything, from creating trees, to healing people, and legend has it, even being able to fully control bijus," Naruto's eyes widened when he heard that. Honestly Naruto never thought much of the Hokages, just that they were powerful and we're well respected.

"Really what about the second," Naruto asked out of pure curiosity.

"I take it you don't know much of the men who's hat your gunning for, huh," Kabuto said, Naruto let his head fall in defeat earning a chuckle from Kabuto. "The second Hokage was known to be very pragmatic-err serious and calculating," Kabuto restated himself when he remembered who he was talking to. "He was known for being a master in fuinjutsu and water ninjutsu. They say he could shoot out a powerful jutsu with only one handseal, some even say that he could do it with only a single hand."

"One hand…oh yeah," Naruto said as he looked up a bit, "On our last mission out of the village we ran into a guy with ice-style or whatever. He could do a jutsu with only one hand."

"Really," kabuto asked with an interested tone. "Next leg," Kabuto said as he switched sides. "Naruto, did you know that the second hokage was the one who created the shadow clone jutsu?"

"Eh really?"

"Hmm. They say he created all sorts of weird jutsus. The third, well, he is known as the god of shinobi. They say he was able to use a variety of jutsu to its at most limit without wasting a single move. And the fourth, well he was known for speed."

"Speed? Wow he's my favorite and I didn't know that!"

"Yeah they say that he could be anywhere on earth in the blink of an eye."

"Eh, how'd he do that?"

Kabuto shook his head, "who knows, all I heard is that he would threw a special kunai and he would show up right next to it."

"I see," Naruto said as he committed every thing to memory. Then an idea hit him "say, Kabuto, you said that you researched the chunin exams right? Did you also research past chunin exams?"

"Of course," he said, "You'd be surprised how many time they have used the forest of death in the exams."

"Then…does that also include past participants?"

"…It does…" Kabuto said as he stopped with Naruto's leg. "You looking for someone? Oh let me guess," He said with a smile. "The fourth hokage, right?"

"No," Naruto shook his head. "A woman."

"I see," Kabuto said pulling out a deck of card, "old participants would take time, if I even have it that is. Normally I would like challenge in finding the person in question, but if it's someone from a past exam than a description would be pretty hard and time consuming, so you wouldn't happen to have a name would you?"

"Kushina Uzumaki," Naruto blurted out.

"Ah," Kabuto said, "your mother I take it?"

"I-" Naruto began but he shook his head, "-I donno," Naruto said, "heard it in a dream."

"Must have been some dream, it's uncanny."

"EH," Naruto said a she turned his head to look at Kabuto.

"No I don't have it," Kabuto shook his head. "If she is your mother and if she took the chunin exams as a kid or so it would be too far for me to have at random."

"Oh…I see," Naruto said he turned his head back and looked down at the ground.

"Your different compared to her but you two do have the same type of eyes," he heard Kabuto's voice as a card was put into Naruto's line of site. It was a card with a woman on it. She seemed slender, fair skin, violet eyes, long scarlet red hair tied up in a high ponytail and strands framing both sides of her face. She wore a blue forehead protector with the regular green flack jackets most shinobis wear. On the card was a name, Kushina Uzumaki.

"Ah," Naruto let out as he grabbed the card. "But you said-"

"I said I couldn't go that far back to when SHE took the chunin exams to have her at random. But you see, I did a little digging and it seems the proctors tend to be proctors again. That guy from the first phase, Ibiki Moreno, after I saw him for the second time I looked him up. I couldn't find much but I was able to find his sensei, guess who it was."

"Kushina Uzumaki," Naruto said absentmindedly. He kept looking at the picture then he looked at Kabuto. "T-thank, thanks a lot, dattebayo."

"Think nothing of it, but really that must have been some dream."

"Yeah…Hey, sorry to ask but can I keep this?"

"Hmm," Kabuto said as he placed his hand on his chin. "Alright but you better not tell anyone. I'd be pretty rough for me if everyone knew I was investigating them and then handing out their information."

"Yeah no problem, to be honest I don't want anyone to know that I have this," Naruto said. "Especially…."

"Hmm? Are you…not allowed to know who your mother is?"

"No its not that…It's just that…my dream. It was about me fighting my self, the me inside me, he calls himself my Shadow. All my dark thoughts or something go into him."

"Hmm," Kabuto hummed as he thought about, "could he be your defense mechanism?"

"My what?"

"Oh, you see the human brain's inner workings is still largely unknown. There are many theories as to how the brain operates. One theory is that the brain, in order to alleviate stress, buries stress inducing thoughts and desires away from the part of your mind that is aware of it. There are actually a few cases were a victim of a severe traumatic event would not be able to recall any of it…but it is very a rare occurrence even for victims of extreme traumatic events."

"I see," Naruto said more or less not getting it.

"Right…I'm assuming your shadow told you things that you didn't want to hear?"

"Yeah…"

"From what I can tell you really eager to get into a fight…either you want to prove something or you need to vent. Which is it?"

"…Both," Naruto responded. "This…this is all…."

"Hm?"

"Right now…I'm clutching a picture of a woman who might be my mother all because…I just…I'm an orphan, I never had family…after everything I heard, after seeing this… If she is my mother, then my life would be nothing but a lie…I-I'm not sure if I know who I am."

Kabuto was stunned for a bit. Naruto didn't notice it because his gaze was fixed on the picture; Kabuto looked as if he was looking at something else while he stared at Naruto. "T-that-that's alright…I'm the same…"

"Huh?" Naruto asked as he looked up to see Kabuto, who still seemed a bit stun.

"Ah sorry about that," Kabuto said, "You see; I don't know who I am either. I-I was an orphan too when I was little, before Mother took me in. It's…it's been a long time. I didn't know who I was back then and I still don't know who I am today either... But that is why I do what I do now. If you are not satisfied by what you are or if you lack the necessary information to define yourself, then move. Set out and look for it, look for new things and research them, add them your being. Look for the truth wherever it could be hidden! Define yourself by what you learn. If you are still unsatisfied then keep searching, keep learning, eventually you'll find it. That is my approach." By the end of it Naruto was staring at Kabuto with wide eyes before he smiled.

"Thanks Kabuto," Naruto said, "I needed that. Find things and add them to myself ey…all the more reason to get a move on."

"You really want to prove yourself huh, even after the trouble I just went to help you, heh" Kabuto said with a chuckle.

"Sorry," Naruto said sheepishly, "The shadow clone jutsu, after shadow, we had a fight, we didn't finish it but he was winning. He used a weird technique for the shadow clone jutsu, apparently it was something I thought was too stupid to work that it got buried in shadow. This morning I spent the morning exploring the shadow clone jutsu…I found a lot of ways to use it and I think I'm still finding new ways. I just can't wait to use them. I…I feel like I can go up against both bushy brows and the red head guy at the same time."

"Hahaha," Kabuto laughed, "wow, you are amazing, you really are the gutsy shinobi."

"Huh?"

"Nothing just a-"

"A book, right," Naruto finished surprising Kabuto.

"Yeah…no it couldn't be fr-"

"From my dream," Naruto answered, "my mom wanted me to be like the guy or something."

"Well… that certainly is uncanny," Kabuto said he a pulled out a small book. "Here I already finished reading it, that is of course, if you want it."

"Uh yeah, thank you. How did-" Naruto would have finished asking but he was interrupted when he was forced to catch a book.

"You wanted a picture of a woman who might be your mother. I figured you would want it, I'm the same," he touched his glasses, "it belong to my mother, the lenses maybe different but the frame is the same. She…she passed away a long time ago, when I truly started questioning who I was. I know how much having a memento from a parent could mean. Also, you have to start looking somewhere, so I figured why not start with that book," Kabuto explained. "And, I think you will be surprised when you see the name of the main character."

"Huh," Naruto let out before opened the book.

"Chapter nine, second to last page," kabuto said "at the bottom, the last sentence." Naruto flipped the page and read it out loud.

"Last…'I will never stop looking'

'who-who are you?' the man asked with a pained expression, no doubt wanting to know the idiot who claimed big words. However, unlike earlier when he didn't even try to acknowledge him, he asked in such a manner that seemed modest. So I told him, I knew it would put another bounty on my name, but I felt compelled to. 'My name is…Naruto,'" he finished dictating in realization as he looked at Kabuto who was smiling.

"Don't give up," Kabuto said, "just as I continue to find who I am, you shouldn't stop looking either."

"Right," Naruto said as he stood up.

"Well then, we should get a move on. It would be better for all of us to get this over with tonight and be able to rest for tomorrow."

"Right, I'll-I'll go get them," Nauto said zipping his jacket up. "Hey Kabuto, thanks."

"No problem," Kabuto said as Naruto nodded and went of to search for his teammates. As soon as he was gone he frowned. "Odd…why did I do that," Kabuto asked himself.

* * *

"How much further," Sasuke asked.

"Quite a bit actually," Kabuto said. Right now the group of four were moving together in stealth. Making as less of noise as possible, there was still daylight but it was about to begin to set. As the team was moving, something caught Naruto's eyes. Everyone took notice when Naruto stopped and stopped in turn.

"Naruto, are you all right," Sakura asked. She couldn't see Naruto face but she could see him making a fist.

"Sakura stay here," Naruto said as he moved to the right of the direction the group were going to.

"Huh," Sakura let out as Sasuke followed behind Naruto along with Kabuto.

As soon as Sasuke got close he completely understood why Naruto did what he did. Just as Sakura was about to follow behind Sasuke, he stopped her.

"Sakura stay right where you are, don't come any closer," before him, Naruto, and Kabuto disappeared from her sight.

"Huh, what's this about," Sakura huffed as she crossed her arms.

"Your teammate," Kabuto began a she looked at Sakura's direction, "she's pretty innocent huh," he said as he looked back at Naruto and Sasuke who were hovering above a few corpses.

"She…she's not used to it," Naruto said before he pinched his nose. Right, he was the one who buried Haku and Zabuza. Sasuke was still recovering, Sakura was nursing him plus she didn't want to be around them. Kakashi helped a bit. Naruto looked at the body, specifically their pouches.

"I see, judging from their forehead protectors, they are kuza-nins," Kabuto said.

"Right…any clue who did this to them?" Sasuke asked as he pinched his nose, noting that Kabuto wasn't bothered by the smell.

"We practice with cadavers," Kabuto said when he caught Sasuke staring; he got closer to the bodies. Two guys and a girl with red hair, they were badly cut up, they had a few senbon stuck them, ten per person at most but there was a lot of blood around their orifices. Kabuto pulled out a small scroll and unsealed a pair of rubber gloves; after he put them on he started examining the boys. While he was doing that Naruto was checking his gear. He had four kunais that were more or less okay, three shurikens, bunch of training scrolls. He spent his smoke and paper bombs on other animals when he was making his way back to his friends, and he didn't carry around wires or fuma shurikens like Sasuke.

"What are you doing," Sasuke asked Naruto.

"Checking my stuff, I lost a few things," Naruto said, "I…I don't want to do it but if what Kabuto said is right…"

"Tsk," Sasuke tsked as he started checking his gear, "it's the same with me."

"Well," Kabuto said loudly, "I have a pretty good idea who did this. The oto-nins, the damage seems to be consistent from what I've observed from them." Both Naruto and Sasuke tensed up, "you can relaxed. From what I can tell these guys have been dead since this morning. They're long gone," they relaxed.

"Hey Kabuto," Sasuke said as he stood, "hate to ask but can you check that guy's belongings, we didn't prepare properly for the exam."

"That's the point," Kabuto said, "if you could prepare for it then you would never come to peace for when something like this matters. I got this guy, who's got the other guy?"

"I guess I got him," Naruto said as he walked up to the other dead guy. He didn't like it but after moving Zabuza's and Haku's body around, he got used to it bit.

"Guess that leaves the girl," Sasuke said as he glared at the body. He clenched his teeth and curled his hands.

"Don't force yourself," Kabuto said.

"Yeah if you want I could-" Naruto began but he was cut off.

"No, I should be able to do this much," Sasuke said as he began to walk to the girl who was a few meters away from the other guys, only she had plenty of more senbons stuck to her back.

"She's lucky," Kabuto said, catching both their attentions. "It's not uncommon for female team members to go through this and then get raped before she dies. Heck even after she's dead; people get off on a bunch of weird things." Both Sasuke and Naruto shared a look before they glanced at sakura's direction before the looked back at each other and then went a little white.

"We should hurry up," Sasuke said as he resumed his walk over to the girl while Naruto began his search on the guy while holding his breath.

He checked his pockets, nothing. He checked his holster and found a smoke bomb. He then checked the guy's pouch; he didn't find much, one roll of bandages, unopened pack of cigarettes with its protective plastic still on and an empty pack and a box of matches. He tsked as he pressed the button to see fire come out of the mouth. That was it, the guys were ransacked before they got there.

"I didn't find much," Kabuto said, "two shurikens and an empty emergency med-kit."

"I didn't find much either, just a smoke bomb and a roll bandages, that's about it," Naruto said as he put the cigarette and matches in his pocket. You never know when it might come in handy.

"Nothing but makibishi spikes," Sasuke said. "Either they threw everything they had or some other group picked these guys before us and took what they could carry… Wait…Kabuto, get over here!"

"Huh, what is it," Kabuto as he moved to the girl with Naruto following behind.

"I think she's alive," Sasuke said.

"Hey you guys alright there," they heard Sakura call out.

"Don't come over here!" All three males shouted back.

"All right jeez, just hurry it up!"

"Yeah," Kabuto said with his stethoscope on her chest, "it's faint but she's alive. Mystical palm technique," he said after he ran through a series of hand seals. While Kabuto's right hand was enveloped in a green light, Naruto observed the jutsu or rather the part of the jutsu that lacked the word jutsu in its name. After a few minutes Kabuto smiled, "She'll be fine with quick emergency aid, but we should still hurry to the tower. I doubt she'll last a night out here without proper medical treatment."

"Then lets get the heaven scroll," Naruto said.

"Right," Sasuke said as he picked up the girl, eh was about to swing her over his shoulder when Kabuto warned him.

"It's probably better if you don't carry her like that." So Sasuke was left to carry her bridal style.

"Hey Naruto-"

"No," Naruto said, "only after I kick someone's ass. To be honest I'm still nowhere near full from keeping six clones alive."

"Fine," Sasuke groaned, "lets hurry then." Both Naruto and Kabuto nodded as they got back to Sakura to see her standing and looking at something.

"Hey Sakura what is it," Naruto said a she pointed at the distance. It first glance it was nothing. But if you stared harder you could see a few bodies with lots of kunais piercing them.

"Traps," kabuto said.

"I could use a few more kunais, but…" Naruto trailed as he looked at Sasuke who nodded and completed Naruto's sentence.

"Yeah there could still be traps set up and scroll should already be gone, lets ignore it."

Xxxx

"Mrrrm," Sakura groaned when she looked at Sasuke who carried the unconscious red headed girl bridal style.

"You know Sakura," Naruto began after he seen the thing happen seven times already, "I could car-"

"Not in a million years," Sakura said before he could finish, causing Naruto to frown. Naruto looked at Kabuto who only giggled at his interaction between Sakura and flashed him a thumbs up, only causing Naruto to sigh in depression.

"We should be close by now," Kabuto said causing everyone slow down. After that point everyone moved as quietly as they moved forward. Then as they, assumingly, got closer; they could hear a few shouts.

As soon as they got close enough they could see what was happening. Three guys wearing yellow wet suits of some kind and bearing and what looks like rain patterns on their forehead protector and mouth gear, probably for oxygen or something of the sorts. They were in the middle of what looks like haze and they were attacking a group of genins.

"That them," Sasuke whispered as he put the girl on the large branch of tree gently.

"Yeah, ninja's from Ame," Kabuto said, "looks like their doing their haze clone jutsu, again. Put simply, illusions created from the haze and they attack while making it look like the attack came from the illusion." One guy had a cap and his eyes covered in bandages with a hole cut out to let his left eye see, another had his eyes covered in bandages, and the third had his wrapped in bandages but had holes cut out.

"Who are they attacking," Naruto asked placing his fingers together and began to mold chakra.

"It's Ino's team," Sakura said, barely able to contain her shock. Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji had their backs against the wall, all three them were cut to hell and were bleeding badly.

"Surrender your scrolls," the guy with both eyes open demanded but his voice sounded off like he was speaking behind mask or something, "and we'll let you off gently."

"We owe them," Sasuke said, "Kabuto you know these guys, what's a good strategy?" Before Kabuto said anything, Naruto cut in standing up straight.

"Don't bother, I got it," he made a quick hand seal while focusing his chakra on his hands and the other part of body that held a newest gear. "Shadow forge jutsu," he would have dropped jutsu from the name but he didn't have the time to make experiments. In his hand a smoke bomb came into existence surprising the other three conscious people.

"Naruto how did-" Sakura began to ask.

"Learned it this morning," then he chucked it as hard as he could at the ame-nins.

"Wait," Sasuke began quietly but it was too late for the smoke bomb was already on its way. Sasuke groaned through his teeth as he saw the things flying, he almost failed to notice that Naruto ran past him with another hand seal up.

"Shadow stream jutsu," and the smoke bomb became smoke that split into six pieces and manifested as six smoke bombs all under less than half a second. The smoke bombs hit the ground around the ame-nins, actually one hit the one without vision.

"WHAT THE HELL," the sightless guy yelled as massive clouds of purple smoke exploded, blinding everything. But Naruto was not done yet. On his way down he had one more hand seal up (yeah they were all the same hand seal). He had a very clear image in his head.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" And the cloud of purple smoke suddenly compressed into six separate clones. Three clones had an arm around one of the three ame-nins and arm restraining the left arm while the other three shadow clones restrained the other arm and held on to the torso.

"Wha-what is this!" The guy with both eyes yelled.  
"Heh heh, how about you surrender your scroll," Naruto said, "And I'll gently beat the shit of you."

"Naruto!" Choji shouted in surprised.

"Oh great, we had to be saved by Naruto," Ino said in a depressed tone.

"Well he owed us this much," Shikamaru said in relief. "But still," he said a she eyes the clones, "never mind the solid ones, how can Naruto make clones in general?"

"HEY," Naruto shouted at them with white eyes and tic mark, "I just saved your butts, a little gratitude would be nice!"

"You're-you-re the dumb runt from before," the guy with both eye said.

"Hey…you're the asshole who jumped me when I was taking a leak!"

"Nice job," Sasuke called out behind the tree ame-genins, with Kabuto and Sakura beside him with kunais while he carried the read headed girl.

"HEY," Ino shouted as she pointed at Sasuke, "who's the girl in his arms!"

"Really? That's what you focus on," Shikamaru asked.

"Sh-shit," the guy with only one eyes muttered as he tried to wriggle his way out like the other guys were, and failing.

"Hey you!" Naruto shouted as he pointed at the guy with both eyes uncovered. "Pay back," Naruto said cracking his knuckles as he walked towards them. For a moment the guy stared at Naruto in fear, before he stopped struggling and chuckled.

"Yeah right," he scoffed, "as if your flimsy punches could do anything."

"The hell-Oh yeah well feel this you asshole, dattebayo!" Naruto forward before he jumped at them.

"NARUTO NO!" Kabuto yelled.

"Huh?" Naruto let out as his focus shifted to Kabuto. In that instance, the guy with both eye uncovered stomped on the foot of one of the clones with all his might, and to his short-lived surprised, that clone went up in smokes. He quickly pushed the thought to the back of his mind and shook the other clone off before he did a few hand seal. Then everyone around the guy included the clone he shook off, who was in mid lunge, slipped into the ground.

"HUH!" Naruto let out in surprise as they trio disappeared along with his clones that were quickly disposed off. When he landed he felt as if he was falling into water and the hands that helped pull him in didn't help. "WAH!" He yelled before he realized he should close his mouth. Thank fully he did so before he was gone. There was a ripple before the ground was back to normal

"NARUTO!" Choji yelled.

"They can do that," Ino asked frantically.

"That idiot," Shikamaru said as he looked at the ground.

"What was that," Sasuke asked in panic after he saw the sink.

"It's a jutsu that lets them move underground as if it was water," Kabuto said, "its how they hide their attacks."

"Is…is Naruto okay," Sakura asked as she stared at the ground hoping her beliefs were wrong.

At that moment that ground exploded as a literal mountain of Narutos burst from the ground. Each and everyone of them shouting a sort of battle cry, surprising the hell out of everybody. Earth and dust was getting everywhere.

"WHAT THE HECK," Ino yelled with white eyes at the sight.

"I-I'd say he's fine," Kabuto said in surprise.

* * *

 _The hell!_ Naruto yelled in his mind as he was pulled into the cold darkness.

"That was a close one," he heard a voice say, he couldn't see a thing.

"Yeah, how'd you know he would come to us?"

"He's an idiot and he had a bone to pick," the assholes said, "anyone could have guessed that."

"Well now we have a hostage, we can use it to get a scroll." Naruto tried to move but he was held on tightly.

"HA!" the guy let out in glee, "He's trying to get away!"

"Well knock him out!" As soon as Naruto heard that he thought of Shadow wearing that old mask.

 _Like hell!_ He couldn't move his arms right, so at the heat of the moment he made the same hand seals he would but he didn't connect them and then he casted the shadow clone jutsu. At first he was surprised a few clones were around. He was going to try to out number them in the water/ground (?). Then he remembered the snake.

"What the-!"

"More!"

This time, his clones casted the multi-shadow clone jutsu as Naruto did his best to hold on to whatever amount of air he had left. The ground literally exploded as a bunch of shadow clones created a small mountain. Naruto, quickly dispelled the clones and began spitting pieces of earth and mud out his mouth. He was at the edge of a crater the clone mountain created. As soon as he got the memories from the clones he knew exactly where the guys were and took in a deep breath of air. He looked up where the smoke cleared to see three guys in wet suits falling while screaming. Naruto quickly stood up and put his hands together and made a hand seal.

"Multi-Shadow clone jutsu!" And then a bunch of clones appeared above Naruto each holding on the other's ankle until it reached the guy with only one eye's leg where the clone grabbed on tightly.

"HUH!" The guy yelled in surprise. Then as soon as he was done, Naruto grabbed his clone's leg and pulled with all his might, a thought all his clones shared as they let out a battle cry.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" The clones' combined momentum was able to pull the guy and, as the original Naruto turned his body, the human rope curved and slammed the guy's back on the edge of a tree.

"GUUUUUH!" The guy yelled in pain before he passed out and the clones disappeared in a cloud a smoke.

"Ommmh!"

"AH!" The other too guys let out as they hit the ground.

"Your turn!" Naruto yelled as he began to run at them. The guy without eyesight noticed and began running through a few hand seals.

 _Damn I won't make it unless…_ Naruto quickly forced whatever chakra he molded beforehand into his legs and jumped forward. He angled his lower body upward so that his head would be aiming at the ground; he aimed just a bit below the guys. He put his hands together and created a shadow clone that was connecting to the soles of his feet (Naruto's body is facing the ground while the clone's body is facing the sky). They both did what seemed to be crouching. Both of them forcing chakra to the sole of their feet. This idea was based on the reason he had bandages on his hand earlier. As they forced chakra at their soles, neither of them absorbed chakra.

"NOW!" there was a blast between Naruto and the clone's feet that dispelled the clone and propelled Naruto forward at a fast rate with his arms forward as if he was diving, he quickly shouted an adlibbed name, "SHADOW DIVE!"

"Shit!" the guy yelled as Naruto collided with him and ended up underground with them. Once again another mountain erupted and then disappeared. The guy with two eyes saw Naruto looking at him from the edge of crater number two; made a hand seal and a string of clones went up to him.

"FUCK," he yelled as the clone grabbed his feet, before another foot hit the clone's hand, it was his teammate who was behind him.

"Thanks!"

"Just cast the jutsu before we hit the ground!"

"Right!" The guy yelled as he ran through the hand seals. Then when they hit the ground it felt a bit like water. As he was going under he saw something bellow Naruto. Actually Naruto had one foot on it. It was the passed out teammate that was currently behind him.

"KAGARI? STRAA!" He yelled as felt the guy behind him punch the mouthpiece off held on to him by the waist with his leg.

"DEEP BREATH," the fake said as it elbowed the guy in the gut and pulled him under. There was a ripple in the ground. Naruto walked forward calmly, towards where the clone disappeared. He waited for a minute before a head appeared out of the ground. The guy with both eyes tried to push himself out of the ground while gasping for air as mud leaked out of his mouth, but Naruto gave him a good kick to the head. After that Naruto pulled him out and stood him up, even though the guy looked like he was about to pass out.

"This is for jumping me while I was taking leak!" And with that Naruto sent the hardest chakra infused punch he could give right into the guys stomach, causing him to cough up a mixture of blood and spit. Then Naruto grabbed the guy's head and kneed him in the face, and then he gave him another punch to the face that sent him flying a feet or two away from Naruto. After that Naruto fell on his ass and layed on his back. He huffed as he stared at the sky. Then Sasuke came into view.

"You alright, loser?"

"I am now, jerk, dattebayo….YOU GUYS ALRIGHT!" Naruto shouted at Shikamaru, Choji and Ino.

"Are we alright? Are you alright! What even was that," Ino shouted.

"Yeah their fine," Sasuke said.

"The red head?"

"Sakura has her…." Then sasuke started thinking

"Sakura has her…." Naruto repeated as he stared at Sasuke.

Both Naruto and Sasuke stared at each other before Sasuke looked at something. "Kabuto is also there, she'll be fine."

"The scroll," Naruto asked as he sat up.

"The last two idiots you beat up didn't have it so," he looked at the last guy. "Want the honors?"

"I'm good," Naruto said as he lied back down. "I'm pretty spent," Naruto said.

"Course you are, you wasted way too much chakra."

"…Wait…you think you could have done it better," Naruto called out.

"Oh yeah," Sasuke called back, "for starters I wouldn't have been captured and I wouldn't have had to use so much chakra. Can you even move?"

"…JERK!"

"Loser."

* * *

"Why the heck didn't we do this?" Ino asked as they rushed through the trees, team seven, team ten, and Kabuto and some red head girl along with three shadow clones disguised as Hinata, Kiba, and Shino.

"Because we didn't stop to think about it," Shikamaru said.

"I wish we did, it would have made all this easier," Choji said.

"Yeah, and I wouldn't have to waste chakra to do this," Naruto agreed.

"And where did you even get that jutsu," Ino asked.

"Mizuki," Naruto said.

"By the way where is he," Sakura asked, "I haven't seen him since the test."

"Who knows, probably retired," Naruto lied somewhat. The last thing he wanted was everyone telling him he was an idiot for stealing the scroll from the Hokage, the guy who gave him everything. Then his mind drifted to Kuhsina and about the Hokage. Technically he never lied to Naruto…but he still never told Naruto…

"We're here," Choji said, taking Naruto out of his thoughts, they came out into the clearing and in front of the tower.

"Just in time too," Naruto huffed out as his clones disappeared.

"Yeah and it's dark already," Ino whined.

"Now what," shikamaru asked as they viewed the large construct.

"Hey Kabuto," two men walked out a few bushes, "your late."

"Sorry sorry," Kabuto apologized. As he walked towards them, "oh just walk inside the doors and the rest is guess work, see you guys tomorrow!" He walked away with his team and with that he was gone.

"…Well let's look for one and lets get inside," Sasuke said. And just like that everyone was walking. Eventually they came to a door. They went inside and they ended up walking around for a while.

* * *

"Well that's a shame," A tall man with pail skin, straight waist-length black hair with the front strands falling to his shoulders. He has a long face that displays his cheekbones well, golden-like slit pupils with purple markings around his eyes. He wore a pair of tomoe earrings and weird gray garbs with a very thick rope tied to his waist. He is Orochimaru.

"Nothing I could do, it all happened really fast," Kabuto said with a smile.

"I suppose," Orochimaru said as he put the card in his hand. "But you have to admit that boy is rather interesting."

"I suppose," Kabuto said in a lackluster tone and a shrug.

"You don't agree?"

"No no I agree, it just that his teammate interests me more," Kabuto explained.

"Oh? You mean the Kyuubi brat? Don't get your hopes up," Orochimaru said. "He's talentless, he'll amount to nothing but mindless berserker. A convenient tool for my upcoming plans, but that is all."

"I see," Kabuto said but he kept smiling. "I take it that you took your time with him?"

"That's right."

"Well then, that explains a lot," Kabuto said pushing up his glasses.

"Hmm?"

"You must have really put the fear of god in him, because at his level, I'd say that he could go toe to toe with Sasuke, if not beat him."

"What?" Orochimaru said in a confused manner as Kabuto passed him while chuckling.

"You really have a peculiar tendency to create powerful enemies, lord Orochimaru," and with that Kabuto walked away smiling. Leaving Orochimaru behind along with his "teammates." Then Orochimaru started chuckling.

"Kukuku is that so…that brat might be more troublesome then I originally thought. You two," he said as the two men straightened out. "If you have the chance in the next part of the exams to clip the brats wings…go ahead and do it. Be mindful not to kill him; that might end in a disaster. After all, it might be more useful for my plan, kukuku," and with that he made a hand seal and disappeared in smoke.

* * *

Naruto dumped his dirty rag of a towel on the edge of his little bed. The room he was in was small, very small compared to his own room. Sure he had his own little bathroom but…well even Naruto's bathroom was better then the crap he got stuck with. But at the very least it had luke warm water, a lot better than the bath's he took in the cold river. He sighed, unfortunately he didn't have any other set of clothes. He washed and wringed out his clothes as best he could before he hung them out to dry. Well, the room had a window that didn't open and was reinforced so it wont dry properly. So he hung his clothes on drapes using the clothes hangers he found. He put his still-damp boxers on and went to the door where the light switch was.

He sighed as he turned off the lights. The yellow light was making him recall the fox. He quietly walked to his bed and lied down. The bed was small and uncomfortable compared to the one he had at home. He stared at the ceiling wondering what the next day was going to be like. He looked to his left, at the window to see the pail light of moon through his clothes. He got out of bed and walked to window. The moon was almost full, probably going to be a whole lot less.

 _It was awful; I looked at it all night hoping for something to happen._

Naruto shook his head as he walked back to his bed.

After they got inside the tower they eventually, both Shikamaru and Sakura, guessed that this was where they were supposed to open the scroll. It was a debate before both teams decided to open them at the same time. After sasuke saw them he said to throw them and out came Iruka and some other chunin to congratulate them and tell them some sort of metaphor or something. Naruto didn't really get it outside the main points: "If you want strength train your body, if you want smarts then train your brain." The other chunin took the red haired girl to get medical treatment and Iruka guided them to a lounge where they briefly met with their sensei. Things seemed to be tense between Kakshi and Sasuke and Sakura, Naruto tried asking about it but everyone said it didn't concern him. After that another chunin took them to their rooms. Unfortunately the time they provide dinner was already over, but thankfully they had cup ramen on hand and gave everyone a healthy a serving…at least to everyone other than Naruto and Choji. They got an abnormal amount but the condition was that they had to eat alone.

Naruto let out another sigh. He looked at his pouch on the small wooden nightstand beside him that had a lamp on top. He pulled the lamp closer to him and pulled out a card and a book from his bag that he had hanging but his bed. He focused chakra on the card and it quickly revealed the image of Kushina. He stared at it. Could she really be his mom, if so, why would the third not tell him? He shook his head as he moved his attention to the book _._

 _Tales of the utterly gutsy Shinobi_

He sighed as he turned on the lamp to its brightest setting. It let out a yellow light that didn't help the mood any. At first he scanned the cover for a description, but he didn't find any. He looked at the back where it provided a picture of the author and name. It was an old guy with white hair named Jiraiya .

 _Be wary of Jiraiya-sensei_

His supposed mother's words in the foxes voice rang in his head. "So you named me off the guy in a book who a guy I'm supposed to avoid wrote?" Naruto questioned out loud. "If you really are my mom then this must have been one hell of a book." He flipped to the first page and began to read. A couple of pages in he could sort of understand why, actually he was chuckling at the reason. The guy's sole purpose for getting strong was so that he could get laid. Really he had tears coming out of his eyes as he tried to suppress his laughter. Naruto kept on reading. Almost all through the night he kept reading. He read about the Naruto his mother wanted him to be. At least certain parts of the fictional Naruto anyway, like the part where he never gave up. But then that would mean that the old man…Naruto didn't think about it, instead he focused on the book, on Naruto.

He felt his eyes get a little sore, so he used he card to as a bookmark and close the book. He found that he read more than half of the book. He turned off the lights and looked at the window. "The gutsy shinobi, huh…" he put the book on the stand and got underneath the covers and rested his head on the pillow. "I'll show you two, with my own strength," he thought of the Shadow and the fox. "I'll never lose..."

With that last sentence, he fell asleep...


End file.
